Family
by Scarlet Child
Summary: Hwoarang meets a girl, but her older brother stands in the way. Chap 20. Honesty and Cowardice.
1. Monday

**Family**

**© Scarlet-Child**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**Summary: Hwoarang meets a girl, but her older brother stands in the way (AsukaHwoarang)**

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**Monday**

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_At the Mishima Mansion_

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Asuka Kazama leaned back and gazed out into the serene beams of gold, slowly ascending from behind the palm fronds. With a placid expression, she stretched her arms out as far as she could, almost as if trying to touch the beautiful spectacle that displayed before her. She was never usually one to admire nature's scenery; she could never sit still long enough. But after Jin had won the Fifth Iron Fist tournament and the Mishima Zaibatsu, she had suddenly found herself having a lot of time on her hands, and nothing to do with it.

The past month was almost like a dream to her; her father's attack, and her entry into the Iron Fist had happened so quickly she barely had any time to comprehend what had happened. She succeeded in avenging her father's attack; winning her match against the barbaric Kenpo champion, Feng Wei, discovered that her father had disappeared, and stumbled upon a contestant by the name of 'Kazama,' her family's name. It was more than just a coincidence, and determined to find out more, she confronted him, only to be attacked with a number of moves from advanced Kazama-Ryuu Kobujutsu, her family's art. It was then that she discovered that they _were_ in fact related. Jin Kazama was her older brother by four years, and she was also an heir to the Mishima Zaibatsu and all its contents.

It was too much to take in, she thought to herself, woefully.

Jin was training in the courtyard, as usual. He never failed to miss one training session. Asuka crawled onto her stomach and peered over the ledge, her russet eyes, so like those of Jin's, watching his every move.

Even after years of watching her so-called father and family perform their family's martial art repetitively, she never tired of watching them. And as she watched her brother's heavily-muscled arm cut through the air, performing a jab, she watched in interest. Jin fought differently to how she was taught as a small child; perhaps it was because of the freestyle Karate that he adjoined with the defence art, or something else. Jin fought intensely; every move was performed as if he was fighting for his life.

Asuka pushed herself forward more, trying to keep up with his swift moves, and a tile slid from under her. It fell with a loud _crack _in the courtyard, and Jin's training ended with an abrupt stop. His handsome face frowned suspiciously as he traced back to where the tile had fallen from.

Asuka's lips stretched into a sassy smile, as she waved to her old brother.

"Asuka," he said calmly, his face breaking into a smile, "What are you doing on the roof?"

_------------------------------------------_

_Downtown Tokyo_

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Hwoarang tapped his foot impatiently, staring past the group of chattering teenagers in front of him. The group of girls twittered loudly in Japanese and he allowed himself a minute to be impressed by their fast bantering; It seemed as if they never took a breath. Then he remembered that he resented the Japanese, and cursed himself for being in their country.

Although he wasn't one to entrust his fate in destiny, the best reason for his existence, he believed, was to fight. He had won so many fights throughout his childhood and adolescence that he and his Tae Kwon Do associates were continuously recognized as the greatest gang Seoul had ever seen, which made his world championship title in TKD seem like an easy feat, which it definitely was not. As a small boy, he strived to be the best martial artist the world had ever seen, and none of his accomplishments came without the blood and sweat of incessant, daily training, in the streets and at the dojo. Although his training eventually slackened and his guaranteed wins considerably boosted his ego, these achievements were something that he used to be proud of, something he felt he had worked for, until the day he met Jin Kazama. On that fateful day, he and his Korean gang, determined to strip the MFE members of their money, pinned on the newcomers their offer- win the rigged battle and walk away with their money and dignity. Hwoarang already knew that he was one of the best fighters in the world, but he had never counted on Jin being one of them too. Their brutal fight ended in a draw, and shortly after the MFE's departure, his respected TKD master disappeared. He was resolute in finding out what happened to his beloved master, Baek Doo-San, and to rematch Kazama.

Three tournaments had occurred and only once was he able to fight, and defeat, him. He was one up on his rival, and determined to win the next battle, which he was counting on being soon.

He wouldn't go back to Korea, where he had nothing left for him. No loyal gang, loving family, or childhood home. No, he would stay in Japan as long as it would take to find Kazama and defeat him. Even if it meant walking straight up to the Mishima Mansion and kicking through the front door.

One of the Japanese girls in front of him giggled, and interrupted his angry thoughts. He met her gaze brashly, and she blushed and muttered something quietly to the other schoolgirls.

Hwoarang rolled his eyes.

This was what he had to put up with just to get a cup of coffee? He was twenty-one. Too mature for schoolgirls to be hitting on him. And anyway, he couldn't stand schoolgirls. Especially Japanese ones.

After receiving his coffee, he left the café, purposefully taking larger strides to avoid being stalked by the clique of schoolgirls. He stopped at a bench and sat peacefully for a few moments, sipping his coffee loudly. After chucking away the empty cup, he began to form a plan.

The only way to meet with the CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu would be to make an appointment at the company building. So that was where he would go.

If only he knew where it was…

_-----------------------------------------_

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Jin asked brusquely, striding past his younger sibling.

Asuka pulled off one of her headphones, and gazed up innocently at him.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

Jin smiled briefly at her cheeky comment, but was too preoccupied to stop completely. He paced back and forth a few times, retracing his steps, before his persistent pacing caught Asuka's attention.

"What you doin' onichan?" she asked, swallowing a mouthful of cereal.

"I can't find my tie," he muttered, bending down to look under the table.

"You left your tie under the table?"

"I have a meeting in fifteen minutes…"

"So? You're the chairman, I don't think it'll matter if you're late."

"I have to set an example," he said, frantically flipping through his briefcase.

"Example?" Asuka repeated, rolling her eyes, "If you want to set an example for them, colour code your jacket to match your shirt. Your tie's on the microwave."

Jin paused in his shuffling, went to check the top of the microwave and sure enough, there was a navy-coloured tie. Jin grabbed his suitcase, swiped at Asuka's hair playfully and hurried out of the room.

"Go to school!" he yelled before his departure.

Asuka rolled her eyes again.

"Hmph."

_-----------------------------------------_

**What do you think? Should I continue? x **


	2. An Old Acquaintance

**An Old Acquaintance**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters.**

**  
Thanks to hibeki, EpikStyle, Sachi Gosetsuke, HibiscusRose, AngelKougaeri, Aki Ronin, Scary-Girly & afasdf for reviewing.**

**And thanks to my beta, Doodles123.  
**

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_Mishima Mansion_

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Asuka wrinkled her nose.

Her new school uniform was … ugly.

Her brown eyes lingered past the collar, big bow, short skirt, long socks and shiny black shoes. She did a pirouette, hoping to find one advantage to the dorky ensemble, but she found the back to be just as worse as the front. She exhaled in disappointment and her hair slightly fluttered in the breeze. She ran a hand through her short, brown hair, admiring the layers that sat perfectly on her shoulders.

"Miss Kazama - !" a voice called urgently.

"I'm coming!" she yelled in reply, yanking her backpack and tearing out of her bedroom and down the long staircase.

The maids bowed at her arrival in the grand entrance hall, and guided her outside, where a parked limousine was waiting.

Asuka stared, aghast.

"I can't go to school in that!" she gasped.

The maid's cheerful smiles slowly evaporated.

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The driver ignored Asuka's pleas to park around the corner of her new school, stating that he had orders from Mr Kazama himself. He drove through the gate, and parked in front of the school, where swarms of teenagers turned their judging eyes her way. Asuka's cheeks burned as she uttered a word of thanks at the driver, picked up her backpack and preceded into the school.

Her first thought was that it was _big, _although it wasn't much of a surprise, considering the school was funded by the Mishima Zaibatsu. Her second thought was that everyone was staring at her.

Eyes bored into Asuka's walking figure. She could hear excerpts of new conversations forming between the school students.

"Yeah, that's her - "

"Who?"

"She was a contestant in the Iron Fist Tournament - "

"Wow… really?"

"She's Jin Kazama's sister - "

"Kazama? _The _Jin Kazama? Heihachi Mishima's grandson?"

"Exactly."

Asuka picked up her pace. She wanted to avoid any questions about her family, at least until she knew the answers to them herself. She wandered around the school, feeling like a fish out of water, until someone finally took pity on her and pointed out the office.

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_Downtown, MFE Headquarters_

_------------------------------------------_

Jin Kazama sat restlessly in his leather chair, facing his Mishima Financial Empire executives, who were discussing the company's upcoming plans in their secret business language. He lowered his cheek into his palm boredly, the other tapping impatiently on the table, and tuned out of the meeting.

"What do you think, Mr Kazama?" one of the men asked.

Jin looked up to find his employees staring expectantly at him, waiting for a reply.

"What?" he sat up straight, startled, "Oh, uh… yes."

The nearest one to Jin nodded to the others. They took this as an indication of the meeting's ending and packed up their briefcases, and shuffled noisily out of the meeting room.

The first man stayed behind.

"You really ought to start paying attention…" he said.

The remark was spoken in a disappointed manner. It was a reprimand aimed at the young chairman's short attention span.

Jin said nothing.

"If you're not concerned about the company's running," his second-in-command went on to say, "Perhaps it would be wise if you considered giving up the rule to some - "

"It's not that I don't care, Mr Tanaka," Jin cut him off abruptly.

The young chairman slowly left his chair. He stopped short of the Financial Empire's window, admiring Tokyo from the eighteenth floor up, his arms at his side.

Mr Tanaka waited for him to go on.

Jin sighed uncomfortably.

"I do care. It's just that … Mr Tanaka, why doesn't the company hire any women?"

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Asuka turned the dial on her locker for the umpteenth time. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration.

_Fifteen, twenty seven, sixteen_

_Fifteen, twenty seven, sixteen_

_Fifteen, twenty seven, sixteen_

_DAMN IT_

Asuka slammed the lock back into the locker angrily. This is such a cliché, she thought, new girl starts at new school, new girl can't open locker, someone comes to her rescue and –

"Need help?" a high-pitched voice asked.

Asuka faced the speaker on her left. A pretty and familiar-looking Chinese girl in perfect pigtails smiled at her. Asuka smiled back genuinely.

"I can't get my locker to open…" she admitted.

The Chinese girl smiled widely, her sticky, pink glossed lips stretching to reveal white, even teeth. She picked up the lock in her dainty fingertips, her nails painted in fuchsia. Apparently, the girl liked the colour pink.

"What's your combination?"

Asuka hesitated.

The girl's smile widened even more and she laughed, a little girly laugh.

"Don't worry! I'm not gonna steal your locker."

Asuka smiled, and told her the combination.

"Fifteen, twenty-seven, sixtee - "

_Click._

Asuka blinked. The Chinese girl swung the locker wide open to reveal the strong aroma of perfume.

"Phew, looks like you got a cheerleader's locker!"

Asuka pinched her nose, and gladly stuffed her textbooks into the locker.

"Thanks."

"No problem," the girl grinned, "Hey, do you think I could put some of my books in your locker? I forgot my combination."

Asuka blinked.

"Yeah, sure, I guess."

"Yay!" the girl clapped her hands playfully, "I'm Xiaoyu, by the way. Ling Xiaoyu."

"I'm Asuka… Kazama, if that matters," Asuka told her.

Ling Xiaoyu's smile faded and Asuka immediately felt embarrassed.

"Look, if me being… well, who I am, is going to be a problem with you, then - "

"What?" she blinked, a confused look upon her face, "Oh, no! I don't mind… I just… were you in the Iron Fist?"

Asuka nodded.

Xiaoyu's face erupted into a grin again.

"So was I!" she went on, breathlessly, "I thought I recognised you… Kazama! Hey, are you related to Jin Kazama, by any chance?"

She spoke so quickly that Asuka barely understood what she had said.

"He's my brother…" she said slowly.

Xiaoyu gazed at her in awe.

"Wow… me and Jin used to be friends, before that whole thing with his family began. How is he?"

"He's alright," Asuka lied.

"Really?"

"Yes," she answered quickly.

"Ohh…"

Asuka picked up her backpack, feeling Xiaoyu eyes inspecting her. Clearly the pretty Chinese student didn't believe her. Asuka searched around for a topic to distract her, but Xiaoyu didn't pursue the subject.

"Want help finding your first class?"

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_7:00PM, The Mishima Mansion_

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Asuka spooned large amounts of mashed potato and mashed it into her noodles. The maids located at the doorway frowned down upon this action, but Asuka ignored them. Soon enough, voices echoed in the hallway, and the maids bowed down to the CEO of the MFE, and two important members of his staff, Mr Tanaka and Mr Nakamuda.

Jin was seated at the opposite end of the table, and the other two, at his left and right hand sides. Asuka felt left out, at the far end of the table. She stabbed her noodles with the chopsticks violently.

The three men began talking about business ethics and other boring aspects of the MFE, Jin only occasionally adding something into the conversation. His two employees babbled on without him.

Asuka stared down at her food moodily.

"How was school, imouto?" 1 Jin suddenly asked, cutting into the conversation.

Asuka looked up in surprise.

"It was fine," she responded shortly, looking back down at her destroyed food.

"Did you make any friends?"

"This girl from the Iron Fist. She says she knows you. Her name's Xiaoyu."

Jin looked up hastily.

"Xiaoyu?" he repeated, a look of sincere interest forming upon his handsome face.

Asuka took in this observation and continued to swirl her noodles unnecessarily.

"Yeah. She asked how you were."

"What did you say?" he asked, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face, although it was obvious that he very much wanted to know the contents of the conversation.

"Oh you know, that you were a rugged, manly lumberjack, struggling to overcome your conformist ideals."

Mr Nakamuda smiled.

Jin didn't. A look of blind panic flashed upon it for a millisecond.

"You told her _what_?"

"I'm kidding, oniichan. I told her you were fine. And everything's fine."

"Oh okay…" he said, looking away almost disappointed.

Asuka shook her head, when the three business men weren't looking.

Sometimes she wondered if her older brother ever had a sense of humour.

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**1- younger sister. I think...**


	3. Boy Meets Girl

**Boy Meets Girl**

**Disclaimer: I dont own tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to Sachi Gosetsuke, EpikStyle, HibiscusRose, Aki Ronin, xjmaster, Thee Slushee, Elisa & Doodles123 for reviewing.**

**Sachi Gosetsuke: The MFE doesn't hire women because they are a stupid, sexist and pointless company. At least in my eyes : ) Jin asks… well, because he is a very lonely boy who is need of a girlfriend. Which is where Xiaoyu comes in ; )**

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_Downtown_

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The next morning, Hwoarang, set for his quest in finding his rival, Jin Kazama, walked out into the crowded street, hoping to get directions directing him towards the MFE building.

"'Scuse me," he asked, an irate buinessman typing away on his laptop with furious clacks, "Do you know where the Mi - "

The businessman shook his head briefly, without sparing the Korean a single glance.

Hwoarang scowled at him.

"Gee, thanks for your help _buddy_."

Ignroing the dirty look being thrown his way, he singled out an elderly woman from the crowd, working at a stall on the sidewalk, and forced his mouth into what he hoped was a pleasant smile.

"Excuse me, do you know where the Mishima Financial Empire's building is?"

The woman shook her head and continued to swiftly bead the necklaces she clutched in her frail hands.

"Is there anyone you know that knows where it is? Do you have a _map_? Do you even understand English?"

The woman shook her head fiercely and called out something in Japanese, waving her hands, signalling for him to go away; he was blocking the stall from view.

Hwoarang curled his fists as he strode away from the stand, planning his next move.

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_Mishima Mansion_

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"Oh _noo_," Asuka muttered, determinedly, "No way. I am not going to school in that again."

Asuka was peeking through the curtains of her bedroom, watching the parked limousine in front of the house. She frowned at it and speedily formed a plan in her head.

She pulled on her backpack, wrenched open the window and clambered down one of the extruding rainpipes skillfully. She landed with a light thud and continued to run across the long, turfed lawn of the Mishima Estate.

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_MFE Headquarters_

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Jin Kazama sat at his desk in his office, filling in one of thirty-five petty cash vouchers of the week. He had given up checking if they were genuine; he had gone through a few 'ran out of coffee; floor 2; $150' and didn't bother correcting, or punishing, the person who had written them up. Who knew owning a multi-billion dollar corporation could be so ... boring?

The phone on his desk ran and he sat down his pen, thankful for the disturbance. He pressed the speaker button.

"Mr Kazama?" his secretary inquired.

"Yes, Rika? …There isn't another meeting is there?" he asked, praying that he wouldn't have to sit through another boring lecture.

"No, one of you house maids just called. Your sister has disappeared."

"What do you mean, 'she disappeared?'"

"She wasn't in her room this morning."

Jin sighed.

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_Somewhere downtown_

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"Oh… crud!" Asuka tripped on a protruding rock on the sidewalk and regained her balance just in time to avoid knocking over a small, bewildered child.

She swirled around on the path, wondering where the hell she was.

"Calm down, Asuka. Okay… we drove past that bus stop yesterday… I remember that. So that should mean I have to go _that_ way."

She pointed triumphantly to the left, where nothing but a construction site stood. Asuka exhaled exasperatedly.

"Where am I?" she asked herself hopelessly.

It came as no suprise that there was no response, and Asuka decided to follow one of the main paths, hoping that maybe someone would help her sooner or later. Sure enough, her dancing around in circles had paid off and a local woman pointed out the school to be only three streets away.

"Thanks!" she called back after breaking into a run.

She turned the corner, saw the school, and pulled off her headphones in a hurry when _–_

_Thwack!  
_

One of her headphones had flown off and hit someone in the eye. Asuka paused in her frantic running, and pulled the headphone back to her.

"Oh, hey sorry, mister."

He didn't even look up at her.

"Watch it," he hissed at her, holding the left side of his face, under tresses of bright red hair.

Asuka, her apologetic smile thinning to a scowl, made an impatient noise at him and started to hurry away, hoping to get to school before class started.

The redhead let his hand drop and stood up quickly, spinning around to call back the schoolgirl, who was already long gone.

"Wait, come back! _Shit, _the only person in this damn city who speaks English and I scare her away," he cursed to himself.

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_4:00, Downtown Shopping Mall_

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"So, this is what Tokyo's like, huh?" Asuka said.

Xiaoyu and her friend, who she introduced to be Miharu, glanced over at the girl from Osaka from their formation.

"What do you mean?" Miharu asked, confused, "I thought you've been here for a month?"

"I haven't had time to see anything," she confessed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, "The times when I wasn't fighting, I was training. And after Jin won the tournament, I haven't gotten the chance to get out."

Xiaoyu beamed, more at the mere mention of Jin's name, than at her statement.

"Well, you have time now, right?"

Asuka smiled happily, and then faded a little.

"Actually, I should probably be getting home… I didn't take the limo to school, and Jin probably thought I've run away. I really don't want him to worry… He's been so nice about everything."

"Oh okay…" they said in unison.

"We'll see you tomorrow, right?" Xiaoyu called out, after she and Miharu steered away.

"Yeah," Asuka called back after them with a wave, "Wait, how do I get out of here?"

"Take the lift down four floors. There are cabs outside. Just be prepared for over-charging!"

With a final wave and a grin, Asuka lifted her backpack higher on her shoulders and went in search of a lift.

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Hwoarang had long since given up his search for the MFE building, at least until he found a Japanese/English dictionary, or a map, and was exploring one of the large malls. The mall was filled with school students, all of them wearing the same tacky uniform. Hwoarang watched them in annoyance for a few seconds. He heard giggling behind him and was shocked to see that one of the groups of students were the girls that were giggling at him yesterday in the coffee shop. He sidestepped a group of people, and made his escape.

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Asuka pressed the one button, and waited for the lift to start. The elevator was packed with people, and she was finding it hard to breathe in there. Thankfully, they exited at the third floor. She bent down to retie her shoe lace, just as another person stepped into the lift. She naturally looked up to see their face, when the elevator, which was gliding down smoothly, jolted to an unexpected stop.

"Hey, what button did you press?" she blurted out.

She looked up and recognised the red-headed Korean she had bumped into before school. Before he could reply to her comment, the elevator made a cracking noise and started to plummet down past the first floor.

"Hey, I didn't want the carpark!" she yelled, trying to grasp something as the lift shook them madly.

"Shut up!" he yelled back, "The lift's broken down!"

"Aaaah!" Asuka screamed.

The lift stopped and shook the pair into the air, the irritating law of gravity causing them to fly up, knock into each other, and fall over. The lights turned off with a sickening snap, the slowly disintegrating sparks being the only light in the elevator. After they fell, the pair were left in complete darkness.

"Ow," Asuka said weakly, and pulled herself up into a sitting position against one of the walls.

"Do you have a cell phone?" the Korean demanded.

"No…" she answered leisurely, "Not on me… Do you?"

"Great," he ignored her and laughed bitterly, "This is just great."

Asuka pouted grumpily, and then pulled off her school bag and fumbled through it. She felt the corner of her textbook, her empty lunchbox and her headphones, but found that nothing that could be of any assistance.

They were stranded.

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Hwoarang sat, his legs out straight and his arms folded impatiently, against the opposite wall of the lift. He was stuck in a lift, hadn't eaten since breakfast, and still hadn't found the MFE building. Still… at least he was stuck there with some company.

He shook his head brusquely, his red hair shaking in the dark, smirking unkindly at his own thoughts. Of all people he could be stuck with, it had to be a juvenile schoolgirl. He would even choose his rival, Jin Kazama, to be stuck with over an immature Japanese girl. But then… maybe she was pretty. He squinted in the dark, hoping to catch a look at her.

"Hey…" the girl began to speak hesitantly, after minutes of silence, "You're not some crazy killer or assassin sent to kill me, are you?"

Hwoarang laughed rudely, all model images of her flying out of the elevator with their oxygen.

"Don't flatter yourself, honey."

The atmosphere in the small lift suddenly changed as he heard the schoolgirl sit up stiffly.

"Ex_cuse _me ?"

_TAP, TAP, TAP._

"What was that?" she asked worriedly.

_TAP, TAP, TAP._

Hwoarang stood up quickly, and tripped over his own feet. He pulled himself up one of the walls and began to yell frantically.

"HEY! WE'RE TRAPPED DOWN HERE! HEY!"

"SHHH!" the schoolgirl shushed him.

"Don't shhh me, you little - "

"Shhh! I can hear yelling."

Anxiously, the pair listened, and sure enough, heard bellowing from a few floors above. The yelling, however, couldn't be interpreted. They were too far down to hear.

"What are they saying?" Hwoarang hissed.

"Shh! I'm trying to listening!"

He made an annoyed face in the dark.

"It's no use," she said sadly, after a pause, "I can't hear a word they're saying. I think we're stuck between two floors."

"Exactly, sweetheart, so save your breath."

THUMP.

Hwoarang's eyes widened in the dark. It sounded as if she had hit her head on the wall. Great, so now he was stuck in the lift with an immature, suicidal schoolgirl.

"What are you doing?"

She ignored him and continued her thumping on the wall.

THUMP.THUMP.THUMP.

She began doing patterns of thumping, pausing between breaks and listening.

Hwoarang finally lost his patience with her.

"What the _hell_ are you doing? Are you crazy?"

She ignored him again just as she finished thumping.

"Are you trying to kill us both? Are you - "

_THUMP.THUMP.THUMP.THUMP._

The sound of distance thumping could be heard from the above floor. Hwoarang laughed loudly and rudely.

"We're in luck. Apparently, they understand the same thumping language as you."

------------------------------------------

Asuka paused, as she listened intently, ignoring the hotheaded Korean's rude remarks at her. She listened to the patterns that were knocking from the floor above and interpreted them.

"Yeah, we are in luck," she informed him, infuriated, "They're working on getting us out of here. They said not to worry, and that they'll get the lift to work soon."

The Korean obviously though she was mad, from the silence he was maintaining.

"How do you know this from hitting the wall like a mad schoolgirl?" he asked suspiciously.

"It's morse code, you idiot," she finally snapped at him, "Maybe if you were smart enough, you'd realise that I was hitting the wall in patterns. I told them that there were two of us and that we weren't hurt, and they'll be saving us soon, so you're lucky I'm down here, _alright_ buddy?"

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Hwoarang felt a wave of embarrassment flood over him at her hasty outbreak. He exhaled loudly, resuming his place in the opposite corner, scowling. He had to admit, though, that he was impressed by her quick-thinking. How many immature school girls knew Morse code?

Hwoarang felt a lump in his jean's pocket and pulled out his lighter. He played with it for a few seconds, it being the only entertaining object in the vicinity.

"Don't smoke," the girl said stiffly.

"I wasn't going to," he shot back, although his anger at her was gradually fading and he continued to flick the lighter out of habit.

A few minutes of awkward silence later, the lights turned back on and after pocketing his lighter, he snuck a curious glance at the Japanese girl, but her back was facing him, her arms folded, clearly peeved at his rudeness. The elevator made a buzzing noise, and started to slowly glide upwards. When the doors opened, there was cheering from the workers, and the crowd that gathered erupted in applause. He turned to smile apologetically at the Japanese girl, but she had already picked up her backpack, and tore off into the frenzied crowd.

"Which one of you knew morse code?" one of the workers asked him, impressed.

Hwoarang blinked from the sudden transition of darkness to bright lights.

"Um, her," he pointed quickly, and began to ran after the girl.

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Asuka took fast steps away from the shopping centre, choosing to take the stairs this time. She breathed in the fresh air frustratingly and hailed a cab.

"Wait! _Wait_!"

Asuka turned around slowly, her layered hair flickering in the breeze. The redhead had run after her. She stared at him, pointedly, deciding against a relieved smile.

"What do you want?" she asked, more sharper then she meant.

He grinned at her, underneath his bright red locks and shook them out of his way, to reveal a handsome and genuine face. She was taken back at the familiarity and attractiveness of his face. She suddenly felt embarrassed and tongue-tied. Why had she been so rude to him again?

"I wanted to say thanks… about the whole Morse code thing. You know, not many school girls would know something like that and - "

"Yeah, well I'm not just any school girl," she said shortly, and threw her bag into the cab, her body following soon after, "Goodbye."

Asuka felt guilty at her quick dismissal of him, but ignored her conscience. He was rude, she was rude back. Still, she couldn't help but feel something else, something that didn't have anything to do with the lack of oxygen that she had been deprived of in the time they had spent trapped together in the lift.

And if she had looked behind in the cab after it drove away, she would have seen him still standing there, even after she had left, a pleased smile upon his face.

_Dear Heart,_

_Today I met a boy. Prepare to shatter x_

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	4. Sushi Train

**Sushi Train**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**A/N - I'm eating sushi. That might just explain the chapter name. (:**

**Thanks to Thee Slushee, Sachi Gosetsuke, EpikStyle & Doodles123 for reviewing**

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_8:00pm, Mishima Mansion_

------------------------------------------

Asuka was settled comfortably in an arm chair in what looked like the family room of the mansion. It was far from family-ish, however, at least compared to her old house. The living room in her old home consisted of beaten chairs, worn down from the amount of trampling it had suffered over the long years, crocheted cushion covers and other homely items. The living room in the mansion was spotless, probably cleaned every day by one of the thousands of maids that were hired to do nothing, a fireplace, a television bigger than her body mass, and probably weighed as much, and expensive portraits.

Asuka eyed the professional portrait of Jin posing on the wall. He looked so evil and devious that she wanted to tear down the picture and paint a spiky-haired stick figure with a happy smile, in its place. On the left and right sides, there were marks suggesting that his ancestors were there before, as tradition, but had been ripped down forcefully. Not much of a surprise, considering Jin endeavored to eliminate the entire Mishima bloodline.

After speculating whether _she_ would ever get a portrait done, Asuka went back to reading her paperback in peace.

Minutes later, Jin Kazama joined her, settling in the lounge chair on her left side, and pulling out a laptop, to, no doubt, type up some boring business letter to some old boring businessman.

Moments passed in silence. Asuka wondered whether she should tell her brother about the elevator incident and the rude Korean boy, and decided against it after remembering the tedious lecture he had given her about running way that morning.

"What are you reading?" Jin asked politely, attempting to make conversation with his sibling.

"This book about a girl dealing with anorexia."

"You're not fat," he said instantly.

Asuka rolled her eyes disbelievingly.

"Thanks for the subtlety, Captain Obvious, but I know I'm not fat."

Asuka went back to reading her book, and Jin continued to work on his laptop, typing away with loud clacks.

Asuka paused and looked up from her book, marking the page that she had stopped at with her hand.

"Jin?"

"Mmm?"

"When was the last time you did something spontaneous?"

Jin looked up at her over his laptop.

"Spontaneous?"

"Yeah."

"What does that mean?

The confused expression upon her brother's face was so realistic that she stared at him blankly.

"I'm joking," Jin smiled at Asuka's look of shock, "I know what it means."

Asuka clicked her tongue impatiently, let her book drop and shifted to face her brother with a significant look.

"That wasn't spontaneity, oniichan. That was lame humour. You need to get out more."

"And how do you expect to do that? I have a company to run. It's more work then you think."

"Get Mr Tanaka to do it. He likes work more then you do."

"I don't like work."

"Oh, you _rebel_."

"Shhh Asuka, I'm trying to do my work."

Asuka rolled her eyes again, wondering if he was kidding. From the serious look on his face, it appeared not.

A loud beeping interrupted her before she could retort back with a witty statement. Asuka clambered out of her sitting position and pulled her cell phone out of her bag, before climbing back up to her seat again. With a few quick taps, she opened her inbox and smirked at a txt she had just received.

Jin caught the grin on Asuka's face.

"What's so funny?"

"Xiao sent me a txt. About you."

Jin suddenly looked pleased. He fiddled with his Rolex watch distractedly.

"What did she say?"

"Oh, that you were such a _rugged_, manly lumberjack. 1"

"Oh, shut up."

Asuka grinned. Maybe Jin did have a sense of humour, after all. And maybe he didn't. Still, it was fun toying with his emotions.

---------------------------------------------------

_Lunchtime, Mishima Polytechnical School_

---------------------------------------------------

"You got trapped in an elevator," Xiaoyu's gasp was so loud it attracted unwanted stares from passerbys.

"Were you scared?" Miharu asked.

Asuka shrugged, a light smile upon her face.

"What's so funny?"

Asuka shrugged again, watching the trees swish in the wind. She never noticed how beautiful the scenery of Mishima Polytechnical High School was until now.

"Oh, so you almost died and you're laughing?"

Asuka just sat there with a silly grin, her arms folded in her lap, sitting cross legged on the grass. She let the wind whip her spiky ponytail back, and stared at her two new friend's puzzled expressions.

Miharu's eyes narrowed mischievously.

"You met someone, didn't you? In the elevator? That is such an American movie-plot kind of thing to happen!"

"No…" she said slowly, her white teeth sparkling cheekily.

"You liar!" Xiaoyu squealed, "You did!"

"Tell us," Miharu pleaded.

"I didn't really…" Asuka replied slowly, watching students kick a soccer ball at the golden statue of Heihachi Mishima constructed on the field, "Well, I did, technically. But at the same time, _not_ really."

Xiaoyu groaned.

"You're not making any sense, 'suka! Just tell us his name!"

"I don't know his name," Asuka informed them, "He was so familiar and _very_ good-looking… But he's seemed like such an idiot. And anyway, it doesn't matter. It's not like I'm ever going to see him again."

------------------------------------------

_6:30pm, Apartment 12B_

------------------------------------------

Hwoarang lay back on his bed, tucking an arms beneath his head and with his other hand, took a long puff from the cigarette he held. He ignored his conscience, and the thought of the reprimands he would be receiving from his master, if Master Baek had have been there.

Hwoarang thought back to the day before, about how he was stuck in the elevator with the Japanese girl.

Morse code…

He chuckled to himself, and gazed up at the ceiling, picturing her pretty, willful face, before she stepped into the cab, the wind making her hair fly back perfectly. She seemed so familiar… He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. What was wrong with him? He had dated many pretty girls, even prettier and more matured then the girl in the elevator, and none of them had affected them in this way ... What did this one have that the others didn't? Besides extensive knowledge of complicated communications and oh, say the fact taht she had _completely_ rejected him.

He had _never_ been rejected by the opposite sex. If love was a battlefield, he would have already won the war.

But then, he thought with a smirk, if love was a battlefield, this Japanese girl would have pitched her flag straight into his gut.

Amused by this thought, he exhaled a large amount of smoke, and stepped over various possessions of his to make it to the tiny kitchen. He hadn't bothered to clean up a lot of his mess; he had been too preoccupied with revenge and being trapped in elevators with pretty girls that he spent most of the time he should have been cleaning, daydreaming.

He pulled open the fridge with his free hand. It was complete bare, except for a rotting salami stick, which he deemed to be not only inedible, but poisonous. He gagged at the putrid stench, and snatched his wallet from his bed. After the cigarette had hit the cherry, he threw it down, stepped on it, and opened his apartment door.

"Take out, it is," he announced to no one in particular.

------------------------------------------

"C'mon Jin, this is your chance," Asuka begged to her older brother who was yet again, typing away on his laptop in the living room, "Get off your high horse - be spontaneous! Let's go out for dinner!"

"We just had dinner. You didn't eat it."

"Neither did you! We don't _have _to have noodles every night. Be adventurous, oniichan!"

"_No_, imouto. Have you seen my tie?"

Asuka scowled, wondering if the boy ever managed to keep a tie for a longer then a period of two days. But then, that was what wives were for… Maybe he just needed a girlfriend…

"I'll tell you if you come out with me."

"I can't," he sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time, rubbing his head with his fingertips, "I have work to do."

He spoke with a note of such finality that Asuka knew that he wasn't going to change his mind.

Asuka pouted, her arms crossed stubbornly.

"God, you really are boring. What was I thinking, considering I was related to you…"

She stamped out of the room her arms swinging wildly. Jin sighed at her departure, setting down his laptop, guilt tearing into his insides.

Family could be _so_ annoying sometimes.

------------------------------------------

_7:15, Xiaoyu's house_

------------------------------------------

"- And then I thought that it was like … hang on a second Miharu," Ling Xiaoyu cut off, placing the cordless phone on her bed.

_BEEP.BEEP.BEEP._

The lean, Chinese student rustled through her handbag to pick out her cell phone.

_At Sushi Train alone. Plz come? Asuka xx_

Xiaoyu read the message, and slowly lifted the cordless phone to her ear.

"Mi, I gotta go, 'k?"

------------------------------------------

_7:30, Downtown_

------------------------------------------

Hwoarang wandered the busy streets of Tokyo restlessly. He was shocked to see a larger crowd of tourists at night, than at day time, as he searched for a restaurant that wasn't packed with screaming kids.

Restaurant after restaurants filled with flashing cameras and loud, drunk tourists and locals singing together in harmony, persuaded Hwoarang to follow one of the less busier streets. In one of the cheaper looking roads, there appeared to be smaller and quieter cafes. He strolled down the boulevard, peering into stores, hoping to find one that suited his fastidious tastes.

------------------------------------------

Jin smoothly parked his red Ferrari into an empty space and climbed out of his sports car. Swarms of tourists snapped pictures of his expensive car, blinding him whilst doing so. He blocked the bright lights with his arms and meandered down the busy streets, looking into restaurants, hoping to find his little sister somewhere.

He had only taken ten paces when he recognised a familiar figure in a skimpy pink dress and sandals walking a few feet in front of him.

"Xiaoyu?" he blurted out without thinking.

The small Chinese girl hastily swung around in surprise.

"Who?" her mouth turned into a big O when she recognised the speaker, "JIN!"

She wrapped her arms around his built torso tightly, cutting off his circulation, and Jin felt himself blush as he hugged her back awkwardly. He let go rather quickly, and scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile.

"Um… how are you, Xiao?"

"I'm fine," she grinned sweetly, swinging her arms behind her back, "What are you doing down here in the sticks? I don't believe you've left your palace since the tournament."

"Yea," said Jin awkwardly, remembering how rude he was during the Iron Fist, "Listen, sorry I never got the chance to say hi during the tournament, I was just - "

Ling waved her hands hastily, her pigtails flapping madly.

"Forget about it!" she insisted, "So… what are you doing? Are you meeting Asuka at Sushi Train, too?"

"She's at the Sushi Train?" Jin questioned.

"Yes…" Ling replied.

There was silence.

"I'll show you were it is!" Xiaoyu cried, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the crowd.

------------------------------------------

_7:40pm, Downtown- Sushi Train_

------------------------------------------

Asuka sat boredly in the restaurant, Sushi Train, and waited for the train to slowly pass by. She had been watching the train for awhile now, and hadn't picked any food off of it. It wasn't any fun being alone…

Eventually, she got up and paid for her green tea and left the restaurant with a sigh. She pulled her headphones out of her back pack forcefully, and it tugged free when – WHACK!

"Ouch!" a voice yelled, doubling over.

"Oh _shit,_ sorry!" Asuka uncharacteristically cursed, wincing.

The young man looked up at her under his long strands of bright red hair. He stood up straight and grinned at her, shaking his hair out of his face.

Asuka gaped, her palm still before her mouth in shock, from maiming a complete stranger. When she recognised the stranger, she squashed all of the butterflies in her stomach and remembered how rude he was in the elevator.

"On second thoughts, I'm not so sorry," Asuka said, beginning to walk off.

But after taking a few steps away, she was starting to wish that he would stop her…

"Wait," he smiled, grabbing her wrist and fulfilling her surreptitious hope, "Okay, _I'm_ sorry you hurt me. What's your name?"

His smile was so soothing that Asuka didn't even consider pulling her hand away and attacking him with a Kazama-style spinning heel kick, as she would have if any other stranger had done the same thing. She gazed back into his amazing brown eyes, her surprised expression melting away.

"It's Asuka…"

Hwoarang slipped his hand lower down and shook her hand sloppily, with another heart stopping smile. Asuka felt herself blush as she let go of his hand shyly.

"Nice to meet you, Asuka. I'm Hwoarang."

------------------------------------------

1- Reference back to Asuka's comment in chapter 2


	5. Confrontation

**Confrontation**

**Disclaimer: I dont own tekken or any of its characters **

**Thanks to Thee Slushee,** **Sachi Gosetsuke, EpikStyle, hibeki, phoenix-flyer's apprentice and Doodles123.**

**Thee Slushee: NZ? I'm pretty sure our countries fight wars together. Or did : )**

------------------------------------------

Thursday, 7:30am, _Mishima Mansion_

------------------------------------------

The next morning, Asuka ate her soggy cereal cheerfully. When she had awoken that morning, she found that she still had the beam on her face from last night's events.

Jin tore into the kitchen right on schedule, as he did every morning, in a rush. Didn't he own an alarm clock?

"Did you have a good night last night?" Asuka teased with a playful smile.

He didn't return until 11:00pm, when she had heard his Ferrari speed madly into the driveway. That itself was enough of a surprise to her. Jin speeding? He was more likely to get a ticket for driving too far _below_ the speed limit, if his well-known title didn't exist to save him. And then, Asuka had received a text message from Xiaoyu at 12:00pm last night, which she had trouble construing; it had been written quickly and excitedly.

_Hey Asuk, it Xiayu! Me and jin dinner had night. Oh my god! It was so uch gun, you shul have ben there-sfd so great I thnk jin dfslkjsd- see schoolsd ay!_

Asuka had had trouble interpreting it; but she had gotten the gist of it. Jin had gone after her when she stormed out and bumped into Xiaoyu, after she had asked the young Chinese girl to meet up with her. They then had dinner, or something like that, according to the text.

Asuka twisted on her chair to see her brother's expression. His face showed a light, happy smile that covered up his usual stressful scowl, which widened a little at her comment.

"Did _you _have a good time last night?" he shot back slyly.

Asuka turned back to her cereal, hiding the growing smile on her face.

"Out of curiosity, where were you?"

"Sushi train," she replied, her mouth full.

Jin paused after absentmindedly placing one of the counter mats into his briefcase. Asuka didn't bother to inform him; it was much more funnier that way.

"I was going to Sushi Train, to find you," Jin said busily.

"Yeah, and I heard you never got there," Asuka grinned.

Jin pulled his briefcase off the counter and snapped it shut.

"…There was a detour."

"Sure there was."

"How do I look?" Jin asked out of nowhere, pausing in the doorway.

Asuka looked up from her cereal, gazing at his outfit critically. She shoved a spoonful of corn flakes into her mouth.

"So I see you're not wearing a tie," she said, gesturing towards his dark jacket and pants and white t-shirt.

"Yeah," Jin shrugged, before disappearing through the doorway, "I thought I'd be spontaneous."

Asuka grinned.

After his departure, Asuka stood up. She picked up her bowl and dumped into the dishwasher, taking out of it, a crumpled up, blue tie.

"_Honestly."_

------------------------------------------

_10:30am, Downtown Gym_

_------------------------------------------_

_Asuka._

Hwoarang beamed as he easily hit the bag with a spinning heel kick. He stealthily dodged the flying bag, and struck it with an inner crescent kick, shortly followed by a jumping back kick.

_Her name was Asuka._

He stood grinning for a second, lowering his bandaged fists for a split second while he reminisced about the night before.

_WHAM_

The bag came flying back and hit him square in the back. His spine screamed in pain. Hwoarang flew to the ground aching.

Snickers followed this, coming from the Japanese fighters in the middle of sparring with their art of Karate. Hwoarang picked himself off the ground with his hands and shook back his hair to reveal the same smile upon his face. Being knocked out by a large bag and making a fool of himself in the middle of the gym as the only taekwondo artist in front of the Karatekas hadn't seemed to shake him out of his good mood.

He patted the bag, as if thanking it, and sauntered over to his backpack. He pulled out a water bottle and guzzled half of the contents, before chucking it away recklessly.

"Watch it!" one of the Japanese fighters hissed, when the half-empty bottle narrowly missed him.

Hwoarang ignored him.

_Wait a minute._

"Hey," he casually called out to the fighter, spinning around on the spot.

The fighter merely glanced at him. He aimed a few weak blows at the bag his sparring partner was holding up.

"Do you know where the Mishima Financial Empire building is?" Hwoarang continued.

The fighters paused.

"Why do you want to know?" the first one asked suspiciously.

Once Hwoarang captured their attention, he continued on, hoping that he wouldn't lose it.

"I was a competitor in the last three Iron Fists," he declared impressively, "I have some loose ends to tie up."

The first fighter nodded, acceptingly.

"Yeah?" he said, approvingly.

It appeared to them that he was a great fighter, if he was an entrant in not just one of the Iron Fist Tournaments, but three.

The First fighter went over to his bag and pulled out an old map, pointing out the building to the red-head.

Hwoarang couldn't help but grin victoriously as he clutched the worn- out map. In a few minutes, he would demand to speak to the CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu and finally confront his rival. He had completely forgotten about the girl in the elevator.

Well, sort of.

------------------------------------------

_11:30am, Downtown_

------------------------------------------

Asuka smiled. Her head was resting on her arm while she daydreamed about the night before. The waitress laid the plates of food in front of the three schoolgirls.

"Do you really think we should have left the school?" Miharu asked almost anxiously.

"Relax, Mi. It's lunchtime," Xiaoyu exclaimed cheerfully, shoving down large quantities of pork.

Asuka didn't notice any of this.

"_You were in the Iron Fist, too?" Hwoarang gasped._

_Asuka laughed._

"_Is it that much of a surprise?" she asked breezily._

"_Well, yeah. I mean no. Well.. yeah, I guess. You just seem a little… young to be fighting. When I saw you in the tournament, you looked…"_

"_Older?" Asuka guessed, "I'm seventeen."_

"_Really?" Hwoarang said, obviously surprised "I'm twenty-one."_

_Asuka held back her surprise. With his long hair, and thin, handsome face, he could have passed as nineteen. At least, that was the age she was expecting him to be. _

"_What?" he defended his integrity, "I look too young to be twenty-one?"_

"_No!" Asuka assured him, "Oh okay… maybe. But it works out… you look younger, I look older."_

_Asuka's beam was so entrancing that Hwoarang couldn't help but smile back broadly._

"Asuka? Are you gonna eat your food?" Miharu asked.

Asuka fell back into reality. She shook her head.

"I'm not really hungry."

Xiaoyu shrugged.

"Let's leave then, shall we?"

After paying, the three girls wandered down the street. A small park, filled with brilliant green grass caught Asuka's attention

"Hey, where are you going!" Miharu cried, when their companion tore off in the direction of the field.

The two girls ran after her. Asuka dived onto the field, landing on her back, laughing.

"Okay," Miharu said, staring down at the laughing figure, "I think our little Osaka friend has officially lost her mind, Xiao."

"Oh, let her be," Xiaoyu replied, pushing her onto the ground, playfully.

"C'mon Xiao, let's spar!" Asuka suddenly yelled.

The Osaka girl jumped up off her back and landed on her feet skillfully. Xiaoyu laughed.

"Is that all you got?"

Xiao and Asuka began exchanging blows. Miharu watched them from the ground, shaking her head disbelievingly.

------------------------------------------

Hwoarang looked up triumphantly.

There it was. The MFE building, he had so long been searching for.

He weaved through the crowd and across the street.

"Hey. No fair! You and Asuka have already mastered martial arts! I'm still in training!"

_Asuka._

Hwoarang paused. He searched for the direction in which the voice had come from. His eyes focused in on the park. There were three schoolgirls dressed in matching uniforms, jumping around. Two of them were trying to take on the third girl.

"Oh, c'mon, Miharu, hold still! I promise I won't get your head!"

Hwoarang's eyes narrowed. He could either go to the MFE building and rematch his rival, something he had been longing to do for years, or go over to the Japanese girl. After all, when would he see her again? She hadn't given him her number, claiming she didn't know it herself.

Hwoarang exhaled frustratingly.

"Move it, or lose it buddy!" a crude voice barked.

Hwoarang's head whipped towards the stranger who had knocked into him. Instantly, his hand flew to the man's neck.

"Say that again," he breathed on the startled businessman.

------------------------------------------

"No, seriously guys, quit it!" Miharu defended herself, moving out of target range, "I've had enough of a beating today. Same time tomorrow?"

"You wish," Xiaoyu laughed.

"Hey, shouldn't we be going back to school now?" Asuka spoke up, glancing at her watch, "It's almost twelve."

Miharu looked at her wrist watch as well.

"Yeah, Osaka's right. Let's go."

"Stop calling me Osaka."

"Asuka, Osaka. It's all the same, dollface."

"Miharu..."

The three schoolgirls wiped the grass off them and picked up their bags. Xiaoyu led the way back into the busy street.

"Hey, what's going on?" Xiaoyu asked, pointing into the crowd.

Asuka glimpsed in the direction Xiaoyu was pointing in. A group of people were gathered around in a circle, obviously watching something exciting.

"It's probably just one of those silly brawls," Miharu said all-knowingly, not slowing her pace, "Interpol will be here in a minute."

Asuka nodded slowly, and tore her eyes off of the crowd.

------------------------------------------

"What the hell is your problem?" the businessman yelled back, trying to jerk the quarrelsome Korean's hands off of his neck.

"My problem is _you_ buddy," Hwoarang seethed, tightening the grip on his collar.

"I'm warning you," the man yelled.

Hwoarang laughed scornfully.

"Yeah?" he said mockingly, pretending to be wide-eyed and scared.

"Yeah."

And with a quick flick of the wrist, the businessman had loosened Hwoarang's grip on his collar and jabbed him in the stomach with his suitcase.

"What the fuck!" Hwoarang wheezed, doubling over.

The man took the opportunity to strike the Korean again, causing him to land hard on his back. When the stranger began to attack again, this time Hwoarang was prepared. He tripped the seemingly-accomplished martial artist and drove his heel into the businessman's abdomen.

Before he had the chance to finish him off, a hard object cracked the back of his spine.

"POLICE!" voice yelled.

Hwoarang fell onto the ground, sprawling.

"I am so screwed," he muttered to himself.

------------------------------------------


	6. Sleepover

**Sleepover  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

Thanks to Sachi Gosetsuke, EpikStyle,** hibeki, Thee Slushee, Innocent Nightmare & Doodles123 for their reviews.**

**Thee Slushee: Yay, ANZAC day: Australia and New Zealand something something day.**

------------------------------------------

"So, we meet again. The Blood Talon, if I'm not correct."

Hwoarang looked up at the police officer and contestant of the Iron Fist Tournament, Detective Lei Wulong, bitterly. His lip had swollen twice it's usually size thanks to the blow the businessman had hit him with.

"Hwoarang?"

Hwoarang shuffled in his seat.

"Yeah," he said restlessly, "Are the handcuffs really necessary?"

Lei Wulong rustled through his items and picked out a key. He unlocked the cuffs and placed them on his desk. Hwoarang felt the blood circulate through his arms again and he rubbed it gladly.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

"I already told you."

"Everything?" Wulong pressed on, "I know you have a grudge against the MFE, Hwoarang. Most of the world does; but to single out and attack one of its members - "

Hwoarang's head snapped up to meet his.

"What?"

Lei Wulong looked faintly surprised.

"'One of its _members_?' That _asshole_ was an MFE fighter?"

"Yes," Mr Wulong confirmed slowly, "You didn't know?"

"Of course I didn't know!" Hwoarang snapped, "_Bastard_. No wonder he was such an arrogant di - "

"Could you refrain from swearing?" Mr Wulong cut him off in a slightly annoyed tone, "I let you off easy today. You're lucky I found you first. Your record's against you on this one. Most of the other officers were convinced that you were a trouble-making street thug, from your continuous entries into the Iron Fist."

Hwoarang gazed at the Chinese martial artist with a frown.

"You're a continuous entrant into the Iron Fist. Are _you_ a trouble-making street thug?"

Lei Wulong disregarded the disrespect in his tone, and stepped up from his desk.

"No, my entry into the Iron Fist was for more pressing matters, more important then matters like _revenge._"

Hwoarang frowned above narrowed eyes.

"What's that meant to mean?"

"The rivalry between you and Mr Kazama is no secret," Wulong said, facing his window and peering out of the shutters casually.

"Yeah, so? It's not illegal," Hwoarang blurted out.

Mr Wulong looked as if he was going to give a lecture to the bad-tempered Korean. Hwoarang waved his hands impatiently.

"Can I go now?"

Mr Wulong paused, and then nodded.

Hwoarang left his chair with relief, and opened the office door.

"Hwoarang," Lei called after him, "You may think you hate him, but trust me on this one… don't do anything stupid."

Hwoarang rolled his eyes after he turned away from the police officer with a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah, whatever," he muttered under his breath.

---------------------------------------------------

_1:00pm, Mishima Polytechnical High School_

----------------------------------------------------

"Wait, wait," Xiaoyu shook her head frantically, "I thought you said that x equals y?"

"It does," Asuka said simply, shoving her and Xiaoyu's books into her locker, "But so does z."

Xiaoyu stared at her. So did Miharu.

"Forget it," she mumbled, "Have you figured out your combination yet?"

"…No. I have it written somewhere. I just can't remember where…"

"Wasn't it in your Japanese book?" Miharu reminded her.

Xiaoyu's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah!"

"And where is your Japanese book?"

"…In my locker…"

"_Fan_tastic."

"So, Asuka," Miharu began, "How what about that guy in the elevator, huh? Any sign of him?"

Asuka looked away.

"…No."

"Liar! Tell us the truth!"

"Do you wanna stay over tonight?" Asuka blurted out of nowhere.

Her companions were taken back by her abrupt query.

"Yeah… sure, I guess," Miharu shrugged.

"Like, at the mansion?"

Asuka nodded.

Xiaoyu's face lit up into a smile and she clapped her hands together. Asuka knew that it wasn't the mansion that excited her so.

------------------------------------------

_8:00pm, Mishima Mansion_

------------------------------------------

"Truth or Dare?"

Xiaoyu shrugged.

"Truth."

"Do you like Jin?"

"Okay, dare!"

"Dare? Fine. I dare you to tell me if you like Jin."

Xiaoyu's mouth flew open in protest.

"Asuka! Make her stop!"

Asuka grinned and looked up from the magazine she was thumbing through.

"Miharu, quit it. I _double _dare you."

"Pschh. What kind of a dare is that?"

Nevertheless, Miharu plopped down onto the mattress reluctantly. Xiaoyu settled herself in an armchair and began to file her nails. Asuka went back to reading her magazine.

"Tell me again, why are we sleeping here, and not in your room?"

"Because there is an angry tabby cat peripatetic in my room, scheming to scratch our eyes out if we so much as set a foot in there. Which really, is your fault."

"It is not!"

"You fed her paint."

"Xiaoyu dared me!"

"No I didn't!" Xiaoyu protested.

"You guys are like a bunch of ten-year olds," Asuka commented, rolling her eyes.

"Like you can talk. You're the youngest of us."

"And probably most maturest."

"Maturest isn't even a word, Miss I'm-so-smart."

"Pschh."

------------------------------------------

"Mr Tanaka, could you file this for me?" Jin asked wearily, handing his second-in-command a folder.

Mr Tanaka obeyed with a respectful bow and departed.

Jin trudged into his bedroom, stripped off his work clothes and changed his training attire, as he did every night at precisely 8:00pm.

He flicked on the lights of the training room, and began his usual warm up.

------------------------------------------

"What can we do now?" Xiaoyu asked, after she finished retouching her nails a shade of pale pink.

"Let's go exploring!" Miharu suggested excitedly.

She jumped up, a lopsided cap on her head, spiking her short hair out.

"Where did you get that?"

"There's gotta be at least fifty rooms in this house!" Miharu exclaimed excitedly, jumping on her mattress, "Let's go explore!"

"In our pjs?" Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I ain't got no one to impress."

"Yeah, let's explore!" Xiaoyu yelled excitedly.

Asuka looked them up and down. Xiaoyu was wearing a hello kitty pajama-dress and bedroom slippers, and Miharu a matching smurfs tee and pants. She looked down at her own singlet and shorts.

"I don't know. I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?" Miharu questioned, "It's not like we're discovering some unknown secret passageway or something. You already know where everything is."

Silence.

Miharu's mouth dropped.

"So there _is_ a secret passageway?" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Shh!" Asuka flapped her hands uselessly and jumped up from the couch, "No! I mean, well I don't know if there's a secret passageway, but…."

"There's something though, isn't there?" Miharu and Xiaoyu's eyes had widened significantly at this newfound declaration.

Asuka sighed.

"There's this hallway on the right wing of the mansion. I've only seen down the hallway, but I've never seen into any of the rooms… And I don't think I'm supposed to."

"Has anyone ever told you that they're forbidden?" Xiaoyu asked.

"Well, no, but Jin made it pretty clear that he didn't want me to - "

"Then it's not!" Miharu called out, grabbing Asuka's arm and dragging her out of the room.

------------------------------------------

"Whoa," Miharu's mouth formed a wide circle.

The three girls were standing, in their pjs, at the entrance of the hallway to the right division of the old mansion. The glass windows, each with their own coloured pattern, shone different shapes onto the dusty floor. It was eerily silent, but for the breathing of the three teenagers.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Xiaoyu mused, motioning towards the apparent scene of a horror movie.

Nonetheless, they walked on, attempting to make as little noise as possible. Their footsteps echoed vociferously, or at least it seemed so to them; there were no other noises in the corridor. This was the only branch of the mansion that didn't necessitate cleaning from the maids, and it was clear to see; everything was swathed in dust.

"Let's go back," Asuka whispered.

The hallway appeared to be endless.

"Why? We're just about to - "

_CRACK._

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The hallway erupted in screams and loud footsteps as the three teenage girls tore back the way they came from.

Asuka paused before her departure of the empty hall, feeling as if she was being drawn back. One of the shadows at the end of the hall moved every so slightly to the right. Asuka froze.

"Asuka? What are you doing?"

"I'm coming," she found herself whispering.

And with a final glance down the corridor, she chased after her two friends.

------------------------------------------


	7. Secrets

**Secrets**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to EpikStyle, hibeki, Sachi Gosetsuke, Thee Slushee, Aki Ronin, Gillian and Doodles123 for reviewing.**

**Gillian: Thanks. I thought that my writing had similar qualities to a medical diagnostic epilepsy machine as well : )**

**Doodles123: I think I cracked a rib from laughing. You didn't even get my pen name right. Some beta you are. Hang your head in shame.**

-------------------------------------------

_8:00am, Mansion_

--------------------------------------------

Asuka lay on her stomach, holding her chin up with her palms as she rested her elbows on the gutter. She lifted her dark eyes up to the sky, admiring the shapes that the clouds would form in the bright blue sky.

Miharu and Xiaoyu had left early, after Miharu had received a deep cut from the mansion's cat, when she went to retrieve her cosmetic bag from Asuka's room. Asuka shook her head. How many times had she warned her that Momo wasn't the type of tabby to forgive and forget?

The courtyard was silent that day. For some reason, Jin wasn't training.

Asuka sat up, crossing her legs, and sitting back.

Last night's events still stuck clearly in her mind. Who, or what, was that shape in the hallway? Sure, the maids had sometimes told her of Mishima ancestors, who had been brutally murdered in the very mansion, but they were all just silly old tales, constructed to scare little kids from invading the private parts of the manor.

And anyway, she didn't believe in ghost stories.

--------------------------------------------

"Jin Kazama,' Hwoarang puffed, after the long flight of stairs, "I _need_ to see Jin Kazama."

The stylish Japanese secretary stared him up and down, held up a finger and tapped a number into her phone. She began to swiftly prattle in Japanese, and when she hung up the phone she addressed the Korean ruffian.

"I'm sorry," she simpered in perfect English, "Mr Kazama isn't in today."

"What do you mean he isn't in?" Hwoarang snapped.

She stamped something behind the desk, and then quickly glanced at him again.

"It's Saturday."

"So what if it's Saturday? Doesn't he have a company to run?"

"Yes, and he does it from his home on the weekend."

"Where does he live?"

"I'm not permitted to divulge such information to you."

"That's bullshit!"

"Sir, please don't raise your voice at me, or I will be forced to call security."

Hwoarang gritted his teeth, and released his grip on the desk with a sigh. He had come too far to fail now. He would just have to wait till his rival checked in.

"Fine. I'll wait till Monday."

--------------------------------------------

_9:00am_

--------------------------------------------

"Hey Mr Tanaka," Asuka greeted the businessman politely, pulling off her earphones and seating herself in her usual lounge chair.

"Hello, Miss Kazama."

"You can call me Asuka. I don't mind."

Mr Tanaka half-nodded agreeably, and put down the book he was reading.

"Do you know where Jin is?"

"He just left to pick something up from his office."

"Oh so he'll be back in an hour."

Mr Tanaka smiled.

"I very much doubt that, Miss Ka… Asuka. He should be back in fifteen minutes."

"Yeah right. The way he drives? I'd be surprised if he got back _today_."

Mr Tanaka shut his book slowly.

"How do you know this?"

Asuka blinked at him.

"He took me for a ride once in it. We got pulled over cause he was going too slow."

"Did it occur to you that he was going slow because _you_ were in the car?"

"No," Asuka said slowly, "Why would he do that?"

"_I_ think that Mr Kazama is trying to set an example for you. Bearing in mind what money and power did to the rest of the Mishima family, I understand that he doesn't want you to turn out like them, or him, for that matter."

Asuka stared.

"That's stupid. I'm not going to turn out like them. And there's nothing wrong with him, besides his uptightness."

Mr Tanaka smiled kindly.

"You should have seen what happened to his first car."

"What happened?" she asked automatically.

She didn't remember Jin ever telling her that he had another car. Curious.

"This when a few years ago, when he was still in high school. He was coming back from a party where he'd been drinking, and he drove the car into a pole."

Asuka burst out into laughter.

"He drove it into a _pole_?"

Mr Tanaka nodded smiling.

"I remember that Mr Mishima had to pull a lot of strings to stop it from being put on his record… And then there were the other cars…"

"What other cars?" she immediately asked, "He had more then one?"

"Three, if I remember correctly."

Asuka laughed.

"Wow. He really does suck at driving."

Mr Tanaka smiled indulgently.

"But he's still pretty uptight about work," Asuka shrugged, "It's all he ever does."

"I believe," Mr Tanaka began in reply, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "That Mr Kazama has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. And at times, I wonder if him running the company is a good idea. Especially considering that he can never stay awake during business meetings longer then five minutes."

Asuka grinned and shook her head.

"So he's not such a loser after all. There may be hope left."

Mr Tanaka abruptly stood up. He winced and his right hand flew to his ribs.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he wheezed, "Just a battle scar."

"Sparring?"

"No. Actually, I was attacked in the street."

Asuka's eyes widened.

"Really? By who?"

"A foreigner. He was just looking to pick a fight, and I was in the way."

Asuka shook her head wearily.

"I hate people like that."

---------------------------------------------

_7:00pm_

--------------------------------------------

Asuka sat still for a few moments, rereading the same line for about twenty minutes. She looked up at Jin, who was on his laptop again, reading a business proposition ("It's very important, imouto, the company's future could collapse if I don't read this.") Was Mr Tanaka serious in saying that Jin wasn't as uptight as he was made out to be? Asuka put her book down, contemplating whether she should open her mouth or not.

"…Oni-chan?"

"Yes."

"What's in the right wing?"

Jin looked up slowly. Asuka immediately realized that she should have kept her big mouth shut.

"You haven't been down there, have you?"

She gripped her book a little harder.

"No," she lied, not quite meeting his eye.

The atmosphere in the room had changed considerably; she could feel the tenseness in the air. And although she couldn't explain it, she often got the feeling that Jin could read minds. She struggled to meet his probing expression, knowing that her pale cheeks were significantly reddening.

She almost jumped when Jin unexpectedly snapped his laptop shut.

"I forbid you to go down there, Asuka," he ordered, fixing her with a defiant stare.

Asuka felt as if she had been slapped in the face. Every other reprimand he had given her had repercussions that he had patiently elucidated to her, but this time it was just a flat-out order. And she hated to be bossed around; her protagonist role in breaking up fights throughout childhood was proof of this.

Asuka ignored her inner voice and jumped up in indignation.

"Why?" she called to his retreating figure, "What's in there that makes it so secret?"

He spun around on the spot. Asuka was taken back at how quickly his expression had shifted from his familiar, brotherly look to a look of intense fury. The calm expression that once flickered in his quiet, hazel eyes was glaring at her disrespectful accusation. It was the same face that consumed him while training. It was as if he was staring at an enemy.

Asuka took half a step back. At this movement, Jin seemed to realize his actions.

"Don't go down there, Asuka, I mean it."

And he left.

No explanation. No apology. No goodbye.

For a second, she doubted whether that was her brother.

Asuka's hand gripped the edge of the edge of the arm rest behind her. She collapsed onto the soft, velvet covering, lost in her own thoughts.

The rooms beyond the hallway contained something. Something that might hold the answers she had been searching for. After all, where were all of the private documents, family trees and photos? _These_ were the things that the rest of the mansion had been deprived of. If one of the rooms contained any of these, then she was willing to do anything to unravel the truth.

Asuka sighed.

Her brother's angered expression was still stationary in her mind, as clear as it had been only a minute before.

Maybe Jin wasn't as innocent as she thought he was.

---------------------------------------------


	8. Date

**Date**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to Aki Ronin, Sachi Gosetsuke, Hibeki, Thee Slushee and Doodles123.**

**-----------------------------------  
**

_7:30_

_-------------------------------------_

Asuka wandered through the busy crowd, feeling as if she couldn't be a less cheery mood. She and Jin had reached some indefinite agreement to not discuss their argument the day before. And the agreement was so indefinite, that they hadn't talked at all, only when Asuka asked whether she could walk to school and he grunted 'yes.'

Family. Who needed it?

-------------------------------------

Hwoarang cheerfully accepted the coffee handed to him by the young waitress. He sipped it comfortably and then decided to drink it on the way- he had a rival to confront. A shoulder slammed into his.

"Hey! Get out of my way, frea - "

Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"Fr… iend."

"Hello," she greeted him somewhat coolly.

Hwoarang felt tongue tied. Or maybe it was the hot coffee burning through the taste buds on his tongue.

"'Lo."

"So you're still hanging around?"

"Yep."

"What exactly are you still doing in Japan?" she questioned.

Hwoarang raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?

"Nothing. I just wanted to know why you're still sticking around in a country you hate so much."

"I don't hate it!" Hwoarang protested.

"'Get out of my way, freak?'" Asuka quoted.

Hwoarang looked down at his training sneakers.

"Yeah… um. I meant it in a good way?"

Asuka stared. And then, miraculously, she began to laugh.

"You know, you are one strange guy."

Her smile was contagious. He couldn't help but smile as well.

--------------------------------------------

"Thanks for walking me to school."

Asuka paused in front of Mishima Polytechnical High School's security gates. Hwoarang nodded awkwardly, secretly cursing the rich school funded by the name he hated so. Another part of him objected, while looking through the bars of the notable school.

Asuka was a _schoolgirl. _Why should he be wasting his time on her? Shouldn't he be going after _real _women?

With a final nod, as if she had heard everyone of his thoughts, she started to walk away.

"Well bye."

It was as if a priceless object slipped through his fingers. All unkind thoughts of her floated away.

"Hey, wait!"

_Way to go Hwoarang_, he grimaced, _Could you sound anymore desperate?_

Asuka paused, and he took this time to salvage his dignity

"Yes?" she smiled, exhibiting her white, even teeth.

_She was so beautiful._

"Ye.. uh.. bha..gu."

Hwoarang felt like kicking himself. When was the last time he lost it in front of a girl? And why was this schoolgirl affecting him so?

"There's a carnival in town," he blurted out.

He had seen a flyer posted on the message board in the coffee shop.

Asuka tilted her head.

"Really?" she asked, wondering why her amusement park-mad friend hadn't already informed her of this.

"Do you want to go? With me?"

Asuka stared in surprise.

"Sure."

"Is Friday night okay?"

".. I guess so."

"Do you have a pen?"

Asuka shuffled through her bag and handed him a pencil. Victoriously, Hwoarang accepted it, pulled out a map from inside his jeans and began to hurriedly scribble something on it.

"That's my apartment address. Is seven alright with you?"

"Yeah."

Asuka accepted the scrunched up piece of paper in bewilderment. He looked up and grinned at her, and she smiled back as well. And then he turned on his heel and walked around the corner.

Asuka stared at the ball of paper.

Maybe today wasn't such a loss after all.

-------------------------------------

"Hey 'Suka guess what! There's an amusement park in town!" Xiaoyu answered her own question happily.

Asuka bit back a grin and picked out her chemistry book from her locker. She took out Xiaoyu's as well, and tossed it to the over-excited Chinese girl.

"Do you want to go?" Xiaoyu asked excitedly.

"Oh.. um I can't. I have a lot of homework to do."

"That's what school is for!"

"No it's not."

"Leave her alone, Xiao. No one wants to go to the stupid fun park."

Miharu was leaning up against the locker boredly. Xiaoyu stuck out her tongue at her best friend and continued to jump up and down out of excitement.

"I thought you liked them, Miharu," said Asuka, surprised.

"Yeah… I did. Until I watched a horror movie last night. Guess where the setting was."

Asuka smiled half-heartedly.

"Amusement park."

"Bingo."

"I love that game! Xiaoyu blurted out. (1)

Miharu and Asuka exchanged amused looks.

---------------------------------------------

Hwoarang was so close to skipping through the crowds, that he felt that he should stop for a moment, to assure himself from doing so.

Even after he had completely halted, he couldn't keep his legs still. He hopped from one foot to the other, itching to spin kick a few times victoriously.

This was one of the rare times that he found himself excited, especially in this God forsaken city that he detested so. Was one guaranteed date with the girl he liked all it took for him to feel as if he had just won the world tkd championship all over again?

He fell back into reality with an unwelcome jolt that came in the form of a hundred elbows pushing him out of the centre of the busy crowd.

He realised how ridiculous he must have looked, standing in the mass of busy people, a grin upon his face, hopping. Maybe he should quit drinking coffee.

Remembering his mission, but not extinguishing the smile on his face, he dug into his jeans pocket to pull out the pocket directing him towards the MFE building again. His grin slowly vanished, when he realised that it wasn't there.

He had given the map to Asuka, as directions to his apartment.

Hwoarang threw his bright red hair back and laughed madly (2)

_-------------------------------------_

1- The Simpsons

2- Bryan Fury style


	9. Tension

**Tension**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to phoenix-flyer's apprentice, hibeki & Sachi Gosetsuke for reviewing.**

**Thanks to Doodles123, best beta ever.**

**And out of curiosity, does anyone know where Hwoarang lived before Tekken 3? Was it Korea or America?**

_-------------------------------------------_

Tuesday, 10:00am

_-------------------------------------------_

"Is something wrong, Kazama?"

Asuka shook her head numbly.

Miharu rolled her eyes melodramatically.

"Well if you say so, but personally I think that you're lying. Maybe you need a bit of lovin'…from Mr Elevator fella," she hinted in a sing-song voice.

Asuka leaned over and thwacked her companion with her Math textbook teasingly. The eight hundred paged book knocked Miharu out of her school chair.

"Miss Hirano, what on Earth are you doing?" the teacher bellowed from the chalkboard.

"Recuperating," Miharu responded weakly, pulling herself back into her chair.

The rest of the class giggled. Miharu attached her blue bow back to her uniform. Xiaoyu, who was for some reason silent throughout their whole conversation, spoke up.

"Why are you even in this class? Aren't you like two years younger than us?"

Asuka was surprised at Xiaoyu's abrupt entry into the conversation.

"I got put up, 'cause math at my level is deathly easy."

"Funny, how you put death and math into one sentence," Miharu muttered.

"But how?" Xiaoyu asked boredly.

"What do you mean, how?"

"How did you get so good at math? I barely get it."

"It's easy," Asuka said brightly, "You just have to have an open mind about it. And anyway, I've always liked math."

"Well, la dee da, Miss Math Whiz," Miharu shot at her, scribbling roughly over her math textbook, "How on Earth do you like math?"

Asuka shrugged.

"I just always have. The answers just sort of appear in my head."

"Wish I could say the same thing for me," Xiaoyu grumbled.

"Hey, at least you're acing all the languages," said Asuka, "I've hit D's. Jin is gonna kill me."

The moment the words left her tongue, she winced. Xiaoyu caught this gesture and her bright eyes narrowed.

"'Suka?"

Asuka adjusted her ponytail nonchalantly, chewing on the bottom of her lip guiltily.

"Did something happen between you and Jin?" Xiaoyu asked gently.

"No," Asuka lied.

"Look, if something's wrong, then I'm sure we'll be able to help if you just - "

"_Nothing_ is wrong, alright?" Asuka found herself snapping at the closest friend she had made since moving to Tokyo, "And anyway since when have _you_ become an expert in my brother?

Xiaoyu's brown eyes widened in shock. Miharu was looking at her strangely, and Asuka couldn't bear to look back. And then her friends looked away, clearly huffed.

Well, didn't this suck.

_-------------------------------------------_

"Kazama wait up!"

Asuka sighed, and bounced her tiny backpack higher onto her shoulder. She reached for the limo door and pulled it open.

_WHAM._

A foot kicked the limousine's door. Asuka swirled around, enraged.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Miharu stood defiantly, hands on her hips.

Asuka glared at her, not aware of the crowd of school students listening in on her adamant yelling.

"Well?"

Miharu uncrossed her arms.

"Why did you yell at Xiao today? She just wanted to help."

Asuka stared down at her shoes, feeling a wave of guilt pulse through her. When she looked up at her friend, she sighed wearily.

"If something's up, then you should tell us. That's what _friends_ are meant to do."

"I know… I'm sorry, okay?"

"I accept your apology, but it's not me you should be saying sorry to."

"I know," Asuka said again, "I'll call her later."

"Okay," Miharu nodded, her fingers hooked into her backpack straps, "But be warned. The bitch bites."

_-------------------------------------------_


	10. Brother Dearest

**Brother Dearest**

**Disclaimer: i dont own Teken or any of its charcters**

**Thanks to Aki Ronin, Sachi Gosetsuke, hibeki, Thee Slushee, kung fu kit & kizna1200 for reviewing.**

**kung fu kit: Thanks. There will be Xiaoyin. Maybe ; )**

**kizna1200: Thanks. Good luck with your exam revision (:**

**Thanks to Doodles123 for beta-ing thischapter**

-------------------------------------------

_6:00am, Wednesday_

_-------------------------------------------_

After staying behind at school for tutoring, Asuka dumped her backpack in the middle of the entrance hall, giving one of the maids something to do for a change. But for some reason, the hall was empty. Asuka paced down the halls, searching for all of the mansion's residents.

It was deserted.

"Well this is weird," she muttered to herself.

And then it struck her like a bolt of lightning. If no one was in the mansion, then no one would be guarding the entrance to the right wing.

She darted through the main hallways quickly. After dodging down one of the narrower passages, she skidded to a stop at the start of the long corridor warily. Why didn't anyone change those freaky window patterns? The red-glass theme was scary enough.

Asuka's dainty feet tapped lightly upon the mahogany floor. At the end of the hallway, and around the corner, was a section of doors. She pushed open the nearest one, expecting it to creak, like all of the other worn out doors in the mansion, but it didn't.

It was nothing like she expected it to be. It was similar to Jin's office, but dirtier. _Much _dirtier. Dust and cobwebs were draped over the dilapidated cabinets of the obviously abandoned room.

She pulled open the nearest one.

It was empty, except for a few resident insects.

So, of course, she went to check the others, as well as the run-down desk.

They were all empty.

She exhaled loudly, forgetting to maintain her secrecy. So this is what she had been waiting for? An empty desk and a family of spiders?

She slipped through the doorway, managing to just brush the door, and pushed open the wooden door of the next room.

She gasped unconsciously.

The room was shimmered in decorative, ice-blue lighting, and portraits were scattered around the walls. But they weren't just _any_ paintings… they were people. Familiar people.

Asuka crept over to the nearest one and stared at it, her mouth falling open in shock. The person in the picture was a Chinese man in his mid-twenties, a proud expression upon his determined face. She recognised him…. she had met him before. He was the policeman who had investigated her father's attack, Lei Wulong. But what was a picture of him doing on the wall of a secret room in the mansion?

She held out her hand, brushing the curved line that connected the portraits, and looked up at the next one. Her hand dropped, and her dark eyes widened.

She recognised the jet-black spiky hair, the unpleasant scowl and proud pose. It was Jin's father… her father.

Asuka looked away, and her eyes fell upon the next picture. A woman, no more then 25, smiled into the distance, a radiant glow on her beautiful face. Maybe it was the flash of the camera or just a mere coincidence, but she appeared to be… glowing. Almost as if she wasn't human.

Asuka had seen photos of her before. Jun Kazama was practically a Goddess to her family. But in all the old, faded photographs she had seen, never had she looked as beautiful and innocent as the portrait portrayed her to be.

Asuka felt a chill waver through her slender frame, but ignored the sensation. It was only when her instincts warned her that she was no longer the only person in that room, when she began to feel truly cold.

_Snap._

Asuka gasped again, and she spun around on the spot. A large figure was emerging from the darkness of the hallway. Jin's blank face shimmered in blue light.

Asuka gripped the edge of the desk behind her.

"..Oni-chan," she began, wondering how on Earth she was going to explain this.

She opened her mouth, about to babble a wild excuse that she was chasing after Momo the cat, but then Jin spoke.

"Get out," he hissed in a deadly voice.

Asuka couldn't move. That wasn't her brother's voice.

"GET OUT!" he yelled, picking up the nearest object and flinging it at her in full force.

Asuka was so terrified that she couldn't even scream. Instead, she ducked and the trophy pierced the glass protecting the portrait behind her. Asuka watched her mother shatter into a million pieces and descend down onto her, when her instincts kicked in and told her to get as far away from there as she could.

So she ran.

And it was only later, when she was cleaning the blood that saturated her shoulders from the fragments of broken glass that had pierced it, that she realized she had just met a side of her brother that she didn't know existed.

_-------------------------------------------_


	11. Collision

**Collision**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to Aki Ronin, AngelHands12, Sachi Gosetsuke, the anonymous one, EpikStyle, Thee Slushee, hibeki, kizna1200 & Melody.**

**Thanks to Doodles123 for the best beta-ing job on this chapter. **

**EpikStyle & Thee Slushee: The room was a gallery of portraits of the competitors of the Iron Fist. I didn't describe Lei first for any particular reason. He was just the first character that popped into my head.**

_-------------------------------------------_

_Friday, 7:00pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

Shadows pervaded the forest, sulking behind the oversized assembly of trees, covering the island as far as the eye could see.

"Asuka!" Jin bellowed through the forest, tearing forcefully at the bounds that held him back.

Forks of lightning sliced above, between the gaps of the entrenched foliage, illuminating the overcast sky, but the company were oblivious to this startling display. They were pushing through the forest, mud caked on their once spotless tuxedos and their hands bleeding from the effort that it took to carry on through the labyrinth.

Just how his mansion's backyard had transformed into a jungle, he didn't know, neither did he know how a monster managed to snatch his little sister from the formal function being hosted there. All he knew was that this was _real_; and he _had_ to save his little sister.

His reply was exactly as it had been before, the erratic roaring of the beast, and Asuka's screams.

He could see the outline of the beast's shape, and in its enormous fingers it gripped, shaking wildly, his little sister. The party was so close now, but for some strange reason, it was taking more effort to get to them.

"Asuka!" he yelled again, as her screams amplified.

The vines were pulling him back, twisting around his torso, the weeds forcing his feet to the ground. He was helpless, staggering in the dust. With one futile surge, he launched forward, only to fall onto the earth, one free hand outreached to something that he could not possibly grasp.

"Asuka!" Jin gasped, as he knocked the bowl of popcorn perching on his knee, onto the floor.

The kernels collected in masses on the floor, slinking into the thin cracks dividing the wooden floorboards.

He exhaled shakily, and rubbed his eyes.

Anne Darrow was screaming, and King Kong roaring, on the enormous plasma screen on his living room wall.

Jin groaned, separating himself from reality and fiction. How could he have possibly thought that dream to be real, no matter how realistic it had seemed at the time?

He sighed; reached forward and cracked open the first fortune cookie sitting upon a small dish on the wooden coffee table.

"Your love will be orange." (1)

He chuckled bitterly, and threw down the fortune, not bothering to taste the cookie. He glanced around the living room, but then remembered that he had sent all of the maids home for the night. Gloomily, he gathered the empty plates himself.

And then he noticed the extra fortune cookie on the plate.

Of course. They usually ordered for two. But Asuka hadn't come home, and hadn't informed him of her whereabouts. But did he really expect her to, especially after what happened on Wednesday?

He sighed.

What was it about the Fridays?

He cracked open Asuka's fortune cookie and read it aloud.

"Get away from home awhile to restore your energies."

He smirked ironically, tossed the plates into a pile to leave for the maids to do in the morning, and traipsed upstairs to change.

_-------------------------------------------_

_7:15pm, Carnival grounds_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Wow!"

Asuka's brown eyes reflected the brilliant explosions of green, red and yellow in the clear, night sky.

There was something about her eyes. Something all too… familiar.

Hwoarang laughed at her reaction at something as trivial as fireworks. Despite his loss of the map that directed him to the MFE building, he couldn't bring himself to ask for it back. It was enough of a surprise that he had found Asuka on his apartment's doorstep, dressed in a neat skirt and red tee. He felt grimy in his jeans and casual shirt, but he couldn't complain; he hadn't expected her to turn up at all.

"Maybe we should get you into there first," he teased, gesturing towards the brightly lit gates of the carnival.

Asuka nodded enthusiastically, and he pulled her lightly by the arm towards the admission box. A part of her sighed, though. She couldn't forget what had happened in the last week; she never would.

"Two please," Hwoarang told the ticket person.

"Two what?"

"Um. An adult and a, uh student, I guess," Hwoarang half-mumbled, feeling a wave of embarrassment flicker through him as the ticket girl eyed him for a few extra seconds.

"Fifteen bucks."

"I'll pay," Hwoarang offered, whipping out a few bills smugly.

Asuka barely held back an un-ladylike snort, and pulled out her own bill from inside the denim skirt that Miharu had insisted on her wearing when she heard the situation. Miharu wasn't her first option; she was actually hoping that Xiaoyu would help her pick out an outfit, but the Chinese girl refused to answer any of her messages. Clearly, the wound was still raw.

"Don't get all macho on me. I'm perfectly capable of paying for myself."

Hwoarang grinned.

"But then what will guys do to impress girls?"

"Well for one, they can stop wearing their boxers halfway down their asses." (2)

"Do I _look_ like that kind of guy?"

" … "

As soon as the pair stepped into the grounds, they were swiped by a pair of children, running feverishly through the vicinity. Hwoarang threw his arm out and grabbed the leader by the collar and pulled him in front of them.

"Hey, watch it you little…!"

Asuka stopped as well, and pointedly gave him the evils with a small 'ahem.'

"Oh… oh yeah. Right. Run along there… kids."

The small boy threw him a skeptical look and slapped off his hand before running away after his friends.

"Easy there, _queer. _Could you have touched me anymore?"

Hwoarang's right eye twitched, but Asuka just burst out into laughter.

"You're an idiot."

-------------------------------------------

_8:30, Downtown_

_-------------------------------------------_

Jin's hazel eyes traced the cracks in the sidewalks gloomily, making his way through the crowd. He stuffed his clammy hands into the depths of his pockets and shivered, breathing in the cold, night air.

It had been awhile since he had last been for a walk by himself. Two months, to be precise. Since he left Australia.

He had to admit that he missed the country. For once, it was nice for people to walk by without them noticing him hiding beneath his hood. Not once was he recognized as the 'Missing Mishima Heir.'

Shortly after he moved back to Japan, the media was thrown back into his face, former issues had returned and he was forced to face them all over again. Even after he had dodged these problems, they still hadn't gone away.

Like the Devil Gene.

His pace quickened, as he thought of the creature that had turned him against his sister.

It wouldn't go away. He knew that sooner or later, it would take over completely. But he wouldn't go down without a fight.

Out of the middle of the crowd, a confident woman wearing a skimpy, bright orange dress that enhanced her obviously store-bought cleavage, brushed lightly past him with a light, flirtatious glance.

_Your love will be orange_

Without thinking, he tossed his head to the side, his eyes following her carelessly.

_Wham!_

He had slammed into another person, almost knocking them down. His sharp reflexes kicked in, and sought to grab them, before their body collided with the hard pavement.

"Jin," she giggled, as he pulled her up against him.

Xiaoyu's chocolate eyes met his.

-------------------------------------------

"You know I have never won one of those big toys," Asuka commented, and stopped abruptly outside a ring toss stall.

Hwoarang cocked an eyebrow.

"No one has. They're rigged."

Asuka turned to him in surprise.

"I used to work at one back in Korea."

"Oh."

Asuka nodded, and made to walk away, her wishful look slowly evaporating.

"Wait," Hwoarang said, tugging on her hand, "I'll win you one of them."

Asuka beamed.

"The monkey?"

"Yep."

He handed the teenager running the stall a few coins from his pocket, and was handed five rings. It came to them as no surprise that none of them managed to hook into their target.

The kid passed him a toy water gun, which Hwoarang turned his nose up at.

"Hey, look at that! That little brat just tried to steal from your moneybox!"

The teenage boy swirled around and incredibly enough, abandoned his stall to chase after the kid that Hwoarang had grabbed only twenty minutes before. Hwoarang jumped over the counter and unhooked the monkey from the display and presented it to Asuka.

"What an _idiot_."

-------------------------------------------

_9:30pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Jin sighed, tugging uncomfortably on the white shirt he had changed into.

For the past hour, he had confided in Xiaoyu absolutely everything that had happened between him and his sister, from the ridiculous dreams to the steel plaque he threw at her.

"It'll take your mind off of those dreams. Besides, you owe me," Xiaoyu remarked, accepting the admission tickets, "Remember how you promised me that you would take me to an amusement park?"

Jin raised an eyebrow.

"I don't remember ever making that promise."

"Really? Well maybe it wasn't you then. But now that you're here…"

Xiaoyu grabbed Jin's hand before he could change his mind and pulled him over to the rollercoaster line.

-------------------------------------------

"Thanks for taking me here," Asuka said brightly, stuffing large masses of cotton candy in her mouth in an unladylike fashion, while observing the specks of people from the top of the Ferris wheel.

"No problem."

"I had fun."

"So did I."

Hwoarang shifted in the uncomfortable swinging, steel seat, his arm wrapped around Asuka's shoulder.

They were silent until they hopped off of the ride, cold fingers intertwined.

"Look," she said, gazing up at the sky, "More fireworks."

Hwoarang turned to Asuka.

-------------------------------------------

_10:00pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Did you _have_ to mention Final Destination 3 as when got strapped into that rollercoaster?"

"Did _you_ have to squeal like a girl and demand to be let off that ride?"

"I didn't squeal like a girl!"

"Whatever Jin. You _were_ in my head."

"Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours."

"Really?" Xiaoyu said, facing him in the middle of the crowd, "Why don't I enlighten you?"

Jin gazed into her innocent brown eyes as her pink lips loomed towards his.

_Wham._

Xiaoyu's eyelids fluttered open in surprise. Jin had slammed past her, rushing into the middle of the hectic throng of people next to the Ferris wheel.

This was definitely not how a kiss with the guy of your dreams was supposed to turn out.

-------------------------------------------

A hand grabbed at the back of Hwoarang's shirt, pulling him backwards so that he and Asuka disconnected from their liplock.

"Hey! What the _hell_ is your problem?"

Jin Kazama glared back at him.

A vicious grin slowly formed on Hwoarang's face and he snapped his rival's hand from his shirt.

"Looking for a fight, Kazama?"

"Jin? What are you doing here?" Asuka said incredulously.

Oh, so know he was butting into her private life? The boy had no boundaries.

"What the hell are you doing with him?" Jin demanded.

"What is that supposed to mean? What are you even doing here?"

"Are you gonna fight me or not?" Hwoarang cut in rudely.

Jin stared at him coldly.

"No. Stay the _hell_ away from my sister."

Hwoarang's grin slowly, but surely, evaporated.

"_What?"_

Jin turned to Asuka, who was frozen on the spot, the giant monkey Hwoarang had won her, gripped in her hands.

Asuka felt a hand close around her arm. She looked over at Xiaoyu numbly, who had the same quizzical expression stamped on her face.

"I think you should leave, 'Suka," Xiaoyu whispered.

"I don't understand…"

Asuka, numb from the diverse combination of cold, disbelief and confusion, let Xiaoyu take her arm and pull her away.

"Maybe it's better you don't…"

-------------------------------------------

1- Totally stole it from Lost

2- No joke. Really guys, stop doing it.


	12. Rag Doll, Harlequin Boy

**Rag Doll, Harlequin Boy**

**Disclaimer: I don't own tekken or any of its characters**

**Thanks to Sachi Gosetsuke, doodles123, Thee Slushee, hibeki, -Kyona-, HWOasUka FORVER! & Estrella. **

**-Kyona-: Thanks :)**

**Estrella: Friendship accepted (:**

_-------------------------------------------_

_10:30pm, Mansion_

_-------------------------------------------_

"So… Hwoarang and Jin are mortal enemies?" Asuka repeated numbly, pressing the cup of herbal tea stiffly in her cold palms.

"Well not exactly mortal," Xiaoyu corrected, placing the kettle in the sink gently, "I think 'rivals' just about sums it up."

"Rivals?" Asuka murmured, "How? How did they meet?"

"Just before he turned nineteen, Mr Mishima sent him and a few members of the MFE to Korea on business. Jin whined to me for about a week about how his grandfather was pressuring him to learn the tricks of the trade, to live up to his name."

Asuka nodded.

"Anyway, once the party reached Korea, they got lost in one of the back alleys and bumped into Hwoarang's street gang, who instantly challenged them."

"What kind of challenge?" she cut in.

"Just an ordinary street-fight. Well, maybe not so ordinary. The first few fighters of the gang would fight against the MFE party, and fight badly - "

"Why?"

"Jin told me that it was a trick to make them believe that they were purposely this bad. The bet would raise to all-for-all on the last match, where Hwoarang would step in and win the match. Except, he didn't win the match."

"He lost?" Asuka guessed.

"No," Xiaoyu explained patiently, dipping her teabag into her mug and joining her companion on the couch, "It was a draw. Jin walked away from the fight."

"Why?" whispered Asuka, oblivious to the chocolate shavings Xiaoyu was generously adding to her tea.

She had never known her brother to pull out of a fight.

"They were beating the crap out of each other, 'Suka," Xiaoyu said quietly, "He never really talked about it, but my guess is that he realized just how much damage they were inflicting on each other. Personally, I think that Jin was the bigger man. Hwoarang would have kept going till the death."

"But - "

A door slammed in the distance, and footsteps echoed in the hallway up to the kitchen. Jin appeared in the hallway, gripping his car keys tightly in his right hand. Asuka felt her stomach tighten in anger, just looking at her older brother.

"I need to talk to you," he spoke in his normal tone, but with a slight tremor in his voice.

Asuka stood up quickly, her chair scraping on the wooden floorboards noisily.

"No."

"Asuka!" he yelled.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted, running out of the room, through the opposite door.

Jin made to go after her, but Xiaoyu jumped up and pushed him back. He stared at her in surprise, and she felt a blush arise from her neck at her daring.

"Don't," he muttered gruffly, not quite meeting her eye.

"Hey, I don't care if you wanna push me out of the way again, but if you want to make things worse, then, fine, go after her," she denounced, defiantly.

He sighed.

"What was she thinking, Xiao?"

Xiaoyu felt a wave of pity for him, observing the quiet, defeated look on his face.

"She didn't do anything wrong, Jin," she protested, "She didn't know anything about it, and anyway, she really likes Hwoarang."

Jin exhaled, pressing his palms into his face, and Xiaoyu thought that she had him convinced. That is, until he spoke again.

"I won't let her see him."

Xiaoyu took a half-step back in surprise.

"What?"

"She's my sister, and I have the right to protect her from him!"

"She doesn't need your protection!"

"Forget it, Xiao. I've made up my mind. She lives in this house, and she has to follow the rules I set."

"You're being completely unfair!" she yelled at him, hoping to get her point across, "Think about it, Jin! Do you think she'll still respect you if you forbid her from seeing the guy she likes!"

"She'll do it if she wants a place to live."

Xiaoyu's mouth fell open, and she slammed down her mug

"What happened to you?" she asked unbelievably, "Why are you being like this?"

His reply was a non-committal jerk of the head, and a decline to meet her gaze.

"Just leave me alone," he hissed.

Xiaoyu picked up her jacket from the lounge and stormed out of the room angrily, pausing at the doorway.

"If that's what you want, then fine. _Be _alone."

Within seconds she had left, leaving Jin alone in the dark room, gazing thoughtfully at the herbal tea burning into the floor, eyes centering particularly onto the chocolate shavings amongst the mess.

_-------------------------------------------_

5:30 am, Apartment 12B

_-------------------------------------------_

Why couldn't he get the one thing he wanted most?

The one thing he was willing to change for, to actually give up everything he had, to _just_ have it within his grasp.

Why was fate sitting in the front row with God, Karma and everything else that had been just as useless to him, ensuring that he would trip and fall, as he had done so many times in the past few years?

Hwoarang groaned, his brown eyes squinting up at his apartment's ceiling. With one hand resting underneath head, and the other balancing a cigarette between two fingers, he closed his eyes and wished for nothing more than to sink into the earth.

In his head, he could hear his master yelling at him, asking him why he was being such a fool. This was the last thing he remembered hearing from his respected Master Baek right before he disappeared. They were quarrelling again, something that they had done a lot of, especially after Hwoarang had taken to street-fighting.

"Yeah, that's right, master," he spat bitterly, "I'm just a stupid fool."

She was _his_ sister.

The very man he loathed, and endeavored to one day defeat. Of all the girls he had to fall for, he had to fall for the one that was Jin Kazama's sister. He had given everything up for their bitter rivalry; he had abandoned his friends, his home and everything that had meant the tiniest bit of importance to him to chase a ghost. A ghost that did not know it, but held the outcome of Hwoarang's future in his palm.

And it fucking _killed_ him.

Hwoarang jumped up, putting out his cigarette on the cracked surface of his dresser.

There was no way he could stay still at a time like this.

_-------------------------------------------_

Asuka closed her eyes as tight as she could, trying to block out the sun rising from behind the palm fronds. She shivered, and rolled onto her back, covering her face with the back of her cold hands.

"So you found me," she sighed.

"Imouto."

She could feel his presence there before he even spoke.

"_Don't_," she found herself snapping.

"I want to talk to you. Just listen, please?"

Unwillingly, she let her hands drop and sat up, glaring at him intrusively. Jin was in his training gi; he must have come straight from training.

"Why? I won't like what you're going to say."

"How do you know that?"

Asuka bit back a spiteful smile, slowly stretching up.

"Because I've been out here all night, wondering what answer you'll finally come up with that will dull your guilty ideals and fit for my best interests, and I bet, with no doubt, that you have picked the easy road. You don't want me to see Hwoarang. You don't want me to have a life. And you want me to turn _Eunuch_, like _you_."

Jin, driven by a sudden rush of anger, darted forward and grabbed Asuka by the wrist, twisting roughly.

"Don't _ever_ speak to me like that again," he seethed, smoke breathing through his gloved hands.

A look of surprise and fury adjoined on her face and she retaliated, side-kicking him in the stomach. He jumped back, his face contorting in pain at her sudden blow, but didn't release his hold on her arm.

The pair continued to throw sloppy attacks at each other, with Jin's fingers still tightly gripping Asuka's arm. Jin seemed completely impervious to her efforts, evading her attacks with a simple, precise step onto the next tile. He wasn't intending on hurting her, only to dodge the attacks she was inflicting upon him; it wasn't until Asuka momentarily arched her body, infuriated that he wouldn't let go of her wrist, and launched her clenched fist at his face, when his instincts took control.

He blocked her fist before it met its target, and tossed her over his back, releasing his hold on her arm.

A wave of victory hit him, like the triumphant cheer at the end of a fight, until he realized what he had just done.

He gasped in horror, as he watched his sister's lifeless body slide from the rafters, almost like a rag doll, her limp hair twisting and catching and her ivory skin scraping roughly on the coarse tiles.

He had completely forgotten that they were on the roof.

He threw himself forward, latching a hold on the same wrist, bruised with purple welts made from his grip, and he heard her scream of terror and a crash as her body collided with the top floor's window. In the corner of his glassy eyes he could just see the broken shards slowly descending into the still courtyard, and with a sickening jolt, he realized that that could have been his sister.

Fear tore at his heart, and he struggled to maintain his grip on her. Eventually he tightened his hold, and pulled her up, but she pushed him off her, crawling away, winded, with blood and glass etched in her skin, without even a back glance.

"I _hate _you!"

These words hit him like poison; Jin fell back, a muted sigh escaping his lips. The sun had already set behind the trees, the golden sky doing nothing to help boost his officially depressed mood.

The cold breeze tickled his raven locks into his pensive gaze, as once again, he found himself completely alone.

_-------------------------------------------_


	13. Feels like Pain

**Feels Like Pain**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters.**

**Thanks to Sachi Gosetsuke, hibeki, AngelKougaeri, Thee Slushee, Doodles123, Gillian, Camille, Pamela & anoumanyous**

**for their reviews.**

**Camille: I don't know where to begin telling you what was strange about your review ... Lay off the crack, sweetpea.**

_-------------------------------------------_

_6:30am, Xiaoyu's house_

_-------------------------------------------_

Xiaoyu hiccoughed loudly, pushing her toy panda bear closer. She drew her legs into her chest and rocked for a few minutes, resting her back against her bedroom wall. The phone next to the bed began to ring shrilly, and she closed her eyes, doing her best to ignore it. But the phone refused to stop ringing, and to end the attack on her left eardrum, she reached over and pressed the contraption to her ear.

"_Hic_ – hello?"

"Xiao? Are you okay?" Miharu's comforting tone danced in her ear, and her lips struggled to form a smile.

"Sure. Everything's just _peachy_."

"What happened?"

Xiaoyu broke into sobs, clutching the frayed panda as if her life depended on it.

"Everything is just so … screwed."

"I'll be over in five minutes. Do you prefer choc chip or rocky road?"

Xiaoyu let out a choked sob, and the corners of her pink lips began to twitch upwards.

"Better take both."

_-------------------------------------------_

_Crack._

Hwoarang whipped his foot around, and slammed it into the black leather bag. The crease that he had been aiming at in the five minutes he had been attacking the gym's bag finally split. Grains of sand trickled from the bag and onto the floor, accompanied by foam and pieces of the leather exterior. Hwoarang didn't stop his pattern; in fact, he quickened his pace, kicking it more viciously than before.

Whenever he trained back in Korea, Master Baek had always told him to picture the face of the person he hated most and direct his anger at the bag. That was a time when he had been undefeated in all of the silly street tussles he had taken part in. Who could he have possibly hated enough to picture them as the recipient of his assaults?

For years, he had constructed the face of the father he never knew on that bag, and for years, he had never failed to miss.

But now, he thought, as he spun back around again, and belted the same spot with his heel, that bag had turned into Jin Kazama. The black leather transformed into his weird spikes of hair, the brand had turned into his body, the letters into his melancholy-filled eyes …

The tear was beginning to stretch, and soon enough, he found that the slit was now a gaping hole. Half of the bag had been emptied onto the floor, and yet, he still continued to hit it. He wanted it to feel as much pain as he was feeling.

"Hey!" a man yelled, "Stop! If you damage the equipment, you pay for it!"

Ignoring this comment, Hwoarang glared at the bag, his brows twisted menacingly.

"Hey, buddy – did you hear me?"

_Crack._

How could Asuka be _his_ sister?

She was nothing like him…

... Or was she?

His eyes widened, as he struck the bag with his fiercest kick yet. The rope supporting it tore, and it fell on top of the mound of sand.

He exhaled bitterly, spitting on it.

_If only this were a real fight_…

A hand tugged on the shoulder of his training outfit, pulling him backwards.

"Who the _hell _do you think you are?"

In one fluid motion, Hwoarang grabbed at the fingers gripping his shoulder, and tossed the attacker over his shoulder with a groan. The Karateka fell onto the protective mat that covered the entire gym, and winced in pain.

"_Hey!_"

He turned just in time to see a Japanese man in a black gi fly at him, fist aimed at his face.

"You bastard!"

Hwoarang dodged it with a simple step to the right, and swung his leg around to strike him in the solar plexus.

"_Two._"

Another two ran from their training to assist.

"_Four_," he grunted, as the pair fell sprawling onto the growing pile.

"Anyone _else_ want to challenge me?" he yelled menacingly, arms out.

The small group left training in the gym, stared skeptically at the scene. Hwoarang smirked, and had turned around, when several war cries mingled in the air. He swiveled around quickly, to find a fist smack him square in the face. The floor padding squeaked as he twisted on the spot, a pool of blood flying from his nose. A body collided with his, and he fell to the ground, landing awkwardly on his hip.

"Take that, you little Korean _shit_!"

Hwoarang's fist curled in anger, and he hammered at the bodies surrounding him with his fists. The group ducked from his blows, and he used this time to pick himself up. Before they knew it, the Karatekas had joined their companions on the heap.

Hwoarang wiped the blood on the back of his hand and stared at the mess he had made. He turned on his heel, and with a hand supporting his bruised hip, strode from the room.

"_Dickheads_."

_-------------------------------------------_

_7:00am_

_-------------------------------------------_

"I don't know why I bother, Mi," Xiaoyu sighed.

Her chocolate eyes were downcast, focusing on the bowl of ice-cream she had paused in devouring. Miharu patted her back sympathetically, and collected the empty bowls from the bed.

"Because you care about him."

"Like that really means much to him," she mumbled into her panda toy.

Miharu pushed the bowls onto the nightstand, and sat back onto the bed. She smiled at the sight of her usually upbeat friend hiding behind her tattered plushie.

"Xiao, listen up, 'cause I'm only going to say this once. You like Jin. Jin likes you. _You_ have been the only one there for him, no matter what. _You_ are the only person that kid has _ever_ confided in. _You_ were the one he warned of Heihachi's true intentions. Xiao, he is _so _obviously in love with you. He's just … scared."

Xiaoyu reappeared from behind her toy. Her brown eyes were bloodshot, and her mascara had smudged to give her an uncanny resemblance to the toy she gripped protectively in her hands.

"Really?"

Miharu rolled her eyes idly, and shoved the half-eaten tub and spoon back into her hands.

"_Yes_. Now eat your damn ice cream."

_-------------------------------------------_

_8:00am_

_-------------------------------------------_

Asuka stared down at the water below the over bridge, and sighed. Her bare legs dangled carelessly over the bridge, and her fingers gripped the cold bars tightly. A single tear trickled down her cheek, joined by the thousands of tears that were being spat down from the rumbling sky. She leant her forehead against one of the bars, and closed her eyes, wishing that she was back home. Wishing that she was anywhere but in this nightmare.

Cars sped past, and the _swish_ing of their tires meeting the puddles of water echoed in her ears.

"This is so freakin' emo," she sighed softly.

Why did her life have to be one big soap opera?

Why couldn't Hwoarang have been anyone but her brother's biggest rival?

And why did Jin strive to doom her personal life?

_Or should I just say life…_

He had _thrown_ her off of the roof, or at least attempted to. He had attacked her, and although she continued to deny it, Jin could have _killed_ her.

"I'm in way over my head …" she mumbled to herself, more confused than ever.

_-------------------------------------------_


	14. Sugar Trails

**Sugar Trails**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of it's characters.**

**Thanks to Sachi Gosetsuke, Wait-For-Sleep, Hibeki, Thee Slushee, arirang, Hannah W.,** **jaremy and Krafty Quill for reviewing.**

**Thanks to Doodles123 for betaing this hunk of junk. **

_-------------------------------------------_

_Monday, 8:00am, MFE Headquarters_

_-------------------------------------------_

"… And in conclusion, I have read through the large sum of additional petty cash vouchers and tracked them back to their owners. In my personal opinion, these men seem to be demanding reimbursement for items that are non-existent, in order to extradite more money for themselves. They have been asked to have their desks cleared out by the end of the day."

The other members of the board nodded in agreement. Mr Nakamuda bowed shortly to Jin, whose attention was directed towards a bird pecking at the glass window.

Mr Tanaka cleared his throat, and Jin looked up.

"Fine," he said, with a slight flick of the hand.

Mr Nakamuda coughed.

"Among the number of those fired was your secretary."

This statement attracted Jin's attention away from the bird.

"Rika?" he asked unbelievably.

"Yes…"

"So …" Jin went on, "You fired my secretary?"

"Uh, yes," Mr Nakamuda replied rather nervously.

"Well, un-fire her," he protested.

Mr Tanaka shot him a Look.

"Mr Kazama, Ms Hiroshi has not followed the company's regulations, and therefore, she has been punished according - "

"You know the last time I looked, _I _was the CEO of this company, not you," Jin said, coolly.

The other board members were silent, throwing nervous glances at the two men arguing. Mr Tanaka stared at the twenty-one year old curiously. It was a far cry from the usual reprimanding look; his expression was a combination of confusion, surprise and _pity_. Jin looked away. If there was anything he hated, it was to be pitied. Pity was for the weak, and he had long proved that he was anything but weak.

"I think it's best if we dismiss this meeting…" Mr Tanaka said slowly.

"I think it's best if _I_ dismiss this meeting," Jin shot back.

The board members stared on at their interaction.

"Did you hear?" Jin retorted, "This meeting's dismissed!"

Jin left his leather chair, and padded over to the window. Mr Tanaka waited until all of the men had left the room until he spoke.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, standing up.

"_Nothing _is wrong," Jin found himself snapping.

"I know things haven't been going well at the mansion, what with - "

"Don't lecture me."

"I'm just saying that perhaps it would be best if you took some time off. I know that things have been hectic."

"I _said_, don't lecture me."

"I know you don't want to hear this," Mr Tanaka continued, "But just know, that I have your best interests at heart. I don't want you to make the same mistakes that your family di - "

"Get out," Jin's temper finally snapped, as he tried to yell his second-in-command out of the room.

Mr Tanaka took a bold step forward.

"Jin, I … "

"I don't need your help. I don't your _pity_. Get out," Jin snarled, turning to face his second-in-command.

"Sir - "

"You're fired. _Now get out_."

Mr Tanaka stared at him in disbelief, mouth agape. For a moment it seemed as if he was going to say something, but then he nodded acceptingly and slowly left the room.

Jin turned to face the windows in silence.

_-------------------------------------------------_

_9:00am, Mishima Polytechnical High School_

_-------------------------------------------------_

Asuka took a deep breath, waiting for her companion to speak.

"So…" Miharu began.

Asuka kept her head down. She whipped out her pencil and doodled on the cover of her maths book.

"So what?"

"You kissed Hwoarang."

"Gosh, really," she remarked sarcastically.

"How was it?"

"Who cares?"

"I cares."

Asuka sighed, and brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

"_Ugh_. You and your unfailing ability to respond to a rhetorical question."

"You love it."

"No, I can't say I do."

"Give me details."

"No."

"Was he a good kisser?"

"… I don't know."

"C'mon 'Suka. Be honest here. What have you got to lose?"

"My pride."

Miharu ignored this comment and barged on.

"Tell me what happened! I need details on the tonsil hockey! Tongue or no tongue? _Where were his hands?_"

Asuka cringed. Heads turned, as her entire Maths class eagerly tuned into the conversation.

"_Shh_, Miharu please. Have a heart."

"Oh sorry. But, why?"

"Because that's what friends do!"

"No, I mean why are you avoiding this topic? What was he like compared to the others guys you've kissed?"

"Well …" Asuka began, unsure of how to explain it.

"Yes?"

"There, um, aren't any others …"

Miharu dropped her pencil. It fell to the floor with a loud _clack, _and Asuka became aware of how many people were actually listening to their conversation.

"Hwoarang was the first guy you've ever kissed!"

"_Hey_! Don't you guys have work to do?" Asuka threatened loudly, her cheeks reddening. The masses of students eavesdropping turned back to their work, afraid that they would cop an earful from 'That Iron Fist chick.' "Stop listening in on our private conversation!"

"Miss Kazama…" her Maths fixed her with a disapproving stare.

"Jerks…"

Asuka sighed, and turned back to her work. She had actually managed to slip in a few answers, despite the fact that her concentration had drifted out of the window, along with her self-esteem, when a wad of paper tumbled to a stop on the middle of her Math book.

Asuka brushed to the side and focused on her math textbook.

_a) Trigonometry Ratios_

_The following questions use the tan, sin or cos ratios in their solution. Find the size of the side marked with the pronumeral, correct to 1 decimal …_

In the corner of her eye, she could make out Miharu trying to capture her attention by waving her arms around showily. With another sigh, she opened the crumpled piece of textbook paper.

_Are you serious? So there really aren't any others? You've never kissed a guy before? _

Asuka rolled her eyes, and scribbled in her response. After satisfied that the teacher was busy marking in answers on the whiteboard, she tossed the ball of paper towards Miharu, a little harder than she planned. It hit Miharu square on the head and Asuka could have swore that it made a _thunk_ing noise, shortly followed by a 'ouch!', like hitting a hollow wall with a hammer.

_Yes, I'm serious. Yes, there weren't any others. Yes, I have never kissed a guy before. Are you HAPPY?_

Miharu grinned.

_Wow. You learn something new everyday._

_Psch. Go play in traffic._

_-------------------------------------------_

_3:00pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Kazama, wait."

Asuka sighed, and halted to a stop. Miharu bounded towards her with a grin on her face.

"What?" she asked, annoyed.

The sudden flare of happiness that arose in her at the sight of her friend had dissolved, like a candle in the rain. Two weeks ago, all she ever wanted was to fit in at this high school.

Asuka sighed.

A lot of things could change in two weeks.

"Talk to me," Miharu said, as the pair left the high school.

"About what."

"You said you've never kissed a guy before."

Asuka sighed again. Her eyes traced the lines in the sidewalk.

"Yeah."

"But why? You're really pretty. I find it really hard to believe that you've never had a boyfriend."

Asuka shrugged.

"Yeah well, you didn't know how I was back in Osaka."

Miharu didn't reply, and Asuka chose to interpret her silence as an indication of her interest.

"It's just … I was never a girly-girl."

"Don't worry. I never thought you were."

The pair turned the corner, and passed the construction site that Asuka had got lost at on her second day of school. Where she had first met Hwoarang.

Amused at the memory of herself hitting the red-head in the eye with her earphones, Asuka smirked.

"What's so funny, Kazama?"

"Nothing," she replied hastily.

"Good. Then go on."

"Okay … well, ever since I was six, I always believed that I should stand up for what I believed in, no matter what."

"That's a common conviction," Miharu pointed out.

"Here, it might be. But back in Osaka ... Everyone was just sheep. They lived their cold, unthinking lives without a single thought of sympathy, honesty … or just anything _right_. It's like they were willing to sell their souls for a deck of cards and a six pack of Smirnoff."

Miharu nodded, holding back a smile.

"I stood up for myself," Asuka explained, "And I fought to protect the ones that couldn't. I pretty much scared away any possible love interests… but it's not like it matters anymore. It's all in the past now, I guess."

Miharu nodded understandingly, and the pair walked in silence.

_-------------------------------------------_

_5:30pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

It had been over two hours since the two school girls had set out. And during their d & m, they had managed to cram in two arcade visits and three stops at the coffee shop, not to mention spitting over the occasional overpass.

"I'm beat," Miharu commented, stretching her hands out as they strolled down the main boulevard.

To amuse herself, the Osaka girl jumped up onto the curb and followed the line imprinted on the sidewalk.

"What are you doing?"

"Practicing."

"Practicing _what_? 101 ways to make a fool of yourself in public?"

"No. Balance is an essential part of martial arts," Asuka quoted.

"So is humiliation, apparently," Miharu retorted, watching the groups of school kids shooting them strange looks. "You know that everyone is staring, right?"

"They can go fu - "

" - I think you've had enough martial arts 'practice' for today."

Asuka didn't reply.

"Okay, then. I'm gonna head home now. Take care of yourself, 'kay? Don't do drugs. Practice safe sex. And don't accept rides from strangers."

"Won't. Seeya," Asuka replied, distractedly.

Miharu disappeared in the throngs of people crowding the boulevard. Asuka hummed to herself as she continued to follow the same line.

The hum of a motorbike pierced the air. Asuka ignored it, lost in her own thoughts. Although when the humming only continued to grow louder, and assuming that it was getting closer, she swiveled around to find that it was heading towards her. Her heel slipped off the curb, and she landed, on her ass, in the gutter.

"Ow…"

The motorbike skidded to a stop, and Asuka, against her will, was impressed at how well they managed to control it. Until she realized that the owner of the motorbike was a certain red-headed someone.

"Hwoarang? What are you doing?" Asuka asked, half-blinded by the bright headlights.

"Look, I've been thinking - "

"Congratulations…"

"And I don't care if you're Kazama's sister," Hwoarang finished, a hint of pride in his tone. It seemed as if he had put a lot of thought into his proclamation.

"Um… okay," Asuka raised an eyebrow, "And what if _I_ care that I'm Kazama's sister?"

The smile on Hwoarang's face began to falter. Apparently, he hadn't planned on that sort of reply. Asuka bit back a smile. What he lacked in brains, he definitely made up for in amusement.

"Look, Hwoarang," Asuka said flatly, "You're a nice guy and all - "

Hwoarang's hand slipped from the clutch, and he barely managed to keep the bike from toppling over. The red-head looked slightly taken back at her remark.

"Oh okay, fine. You're not exactly a nice guy, but the point is that - "

"Wanna ride?" he cut her off, seemingly bored at her inquest.

"What?" Asuka blurted,

"Want a ride?" he gestured towards his motorbike.

"So, that's it? No apology? Nothing?" Asuka questioned, appearing disappointed.

"Sorry. I'm not a nice guy…" Hwoarang said nonchalantly, grinning charmingly.

He slipped onto the motorbike, and held his hand out to her. Asuka stood up slowly, and hesitated.

"Hop on."

Asuka took his hand, slid behind him, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I've never been on a motorbike before…" Asuka admitted.

"Really? Well, I'll keep to the speed limit then."

"Thanks… I think."

With one final back glance, all thoughts of home and family were abandoned in the night breeze of the desolate street, as they pulled away from the curb.

_-------------------------------------------_

It's not my best chapter.. in fact, the ending was a little rushed. Click that purple button :)


	15. Wearing Thin

**Wearing Thin**

**Thanks to hibeki, Sachi, Thee Slushee, callmeAZN and Hatori Fujiwara for their reviews. And thanks to Doodles123 for beta-ing, Jarrah coffee for keeping me awake while writing this, and all of Eisley's albums for setting the mood. **

**Sorry about the wait and small range of vocab in this chapter. I'm slowly overcoming writer's block (I didn't even know it was real..)**

_-------------------------------------------_

I remember when getting high meant swinging at the playgrounds.

The worst thing you could get from a girl was cooties.

Race issues were who could run the fastest.

The only thing you smoked was the tires on your bike.

Life was so simple and carefree,

but the thing I remember the most was wanting to grow up…

'I remember' – author unknown.

_-------------------------------------------_

_Monday, 6:00pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"So this is where you go when you want to be alone?"

Asuka nodded, gazing out into the stretch of water beneath the bridge. Hwoarang raised an eyebrow, his elbow resting against the ledge.

"_Cool_..."

"It reminds me of this place in Osaka I used to go to," Asuka went on, ignoring his snide comment, "It was right next to my father's dojo. It was just a small bridge, though, built over a stream. I used to sit on it and just … think."

"Yeah?" Hwoarang said. "I had a place like that in Seoul. All the teenagers used to go there to smoke and make out…"

Asuka cast him a dirty look.

"Do you have to ruin the moment?"

"Oh yeah," he coughed, "Not me, though. I was beyond all that."

"_Huh_."

The pair were lapsed in silence again.

"What should we do now?" Hwoarang inquired.

"I don't know … What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno … What do _you_ – ow!" Hwoarang yelped, as Asuka's fist connected with his arm. He glared at her.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, her head bowed. She lowered her fist, appearing a little embarrassed. "Force of habit."

"Right."

"It's just ... when people talk back to me - "

"Three guesses what kind of kid you were," Hwoarang retorted, rubbing his bruised arm, "I bet you were the hall monitor. Am I right, or am I right?"

"Oh, shut up," Asuka sighed, punching him in the arm again.

"_Ow_…"

_-------------------------------------------_

_Xiaoyu's house_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Go fish..." Xiaoyu murmured, distractedly.

Miharu frowned.

"We're playing snap, Xiaa_oooow_!"

Panda withdrew her paw from the pile of cards guiltily.

"Jeez, Panda!" Miharu groaned, rubbing her bruised hand. "That's the last time I play snap with a freakin' panda bear. Great idea, Xiao."

"Well, have you got a better one?" Xiao shot back.

"Yes. Let's go downtown and drink the night away."

"Great plan. Now If only it were legal."

"Shh."

Silence. Panda yawned noisily, emitting a tinge of salmon and onions.

"I wonder what Asuka's up to …" Xiaoyu mused.

"I wonder what Jin's up to …"

Xiaoyu shot her a dirty look. To fill the awkward silence, she turned her attention to the stray cards scattered on her floor and began pushing them into a pile. Panda, seemingly bored of their antics, bounded down the hallway and up the stairs.

"What? I'm allowed to use his name, right? Anyway, I thought you were over this, hence our little get-together which involved you leaving your room for the first time in days."

"Snuh."

"That's not a word, Xiao."

"… Buh." (1)

"Oh, for the love of … let's just go downtown okay. Maybe we'll find something to do. Maybe that carnival's still there."

Xiaoyu, who was staring at the ground, uninterested, suddenly inflated at the word carnival.

"Carnival!" she shrieked, accidentally elbowing Miharu in the face as she jumped up excitedly.

_-------------------------------------------_

_Downtown, 7:00pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Are you cold?" Hwoarang asked, gesturing towards Asuka's skimpy school uniform. The pair had ventured into town, Hwoarang distancing himself just beyond reach, after she had pelted him in the arm. As much as he didn't want to admit it, her punches _ached._

"Sort of …"

"If I had a jacket I would give it to you."

Asuka dodged a large crowd of bickering school girls, most of whom she recognized attended her school. They shot her look, as if unsure of whether to say hello or not. Asuka smirked, and turned back to Hwoarang.

"Thanks."

Hwoarang noticed the smile flash upon her face.

"Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that pretty head of yours," Hwoarang mused in a light voice.

"Really? So you think I'm pretty?" Asuka batted her eyelashes playfully, earning a smirk from the redhead.

"No. I think you're ugly! You're so ugly you make me wanna puke!"

"See, that is _exactly_ how you ruin the moment, Hwoarang."

The couple fell silent for a few seconds, until Asuka felt her backpack buzzing.

"Argh… my cell phone…"

She stopped in the middle of the crowd, pulled her bag off and began piling the contents of her bag in Hwoarang's unsuspecting arms.

"Hey!" he complained, over three huge textbooks, her lunch box and her i-pod.

"Damn…" Asuka cursed, as the phone stopped ringing. She sighed; plucking the volumes from his arms, and shoving them forcefully back into her tiny bag. "This is _your_ fault, you know."

After a few moments of silence, she looked up, in the process of re-packing her bag. To her surprise, Hwoarang was staring off into the distance.

"Hey…?" she called out, waving her hand in front of his dazed expression. "Did you not hear me insult you?"

Hwoarang looked away, blankly.

"_Guys_," she muttered in annoyance, zipping up her bag. 'Honestly. Can they ever listen for a period longer than – _oooow!"_

Asuka dropped her bag, both hands flying to her throbbing eye.

"You just… you _didn't…"_

Asuka stood up straight, one hand still covering her right eye. The other eye was glaring menacingly at the Korean, who was clutching her i-pod rather nervously.

"Haha…" he chuckled.

Asuka continued to glare at him.

"_What_thehellwasthatfor?!"

Hwoarang shrugged innocently, a smirk present on his handsome face.

"If you really must know, it was for the first two times you got _me_. Gee, haven't the tables turned now."

Asuka grabbed the I-pod in his hands. Instinctively, Hwoarang took a step backwards. Asuka threw her bag onto her back chuckling.

"Get real. As if I'm gonna throw my i-pod on you. Do you know how much it cost?"

The couple began to wander down the path again, their pace gradually slowing with each step they took. Hwoarang moved closer to her again, when he thought it to be safe, but his scheme was thwarted when, out of nowhere, Asuka snatched the goggles strategically perched on his head.

A layer of his red hair instantly fell forward. Hwoarang pushed it back up with his left hand, and with his right frantically tried to reach for it.

"Hey! Give it back!"

Asuka giggled, pushing it onto her head, and breaking into a run. Hwoarang instantly chased after her. If he hadn't been so preoccupied in getting his goggles back, he would have taken a moment to laugh at how ridiculous they looked on her. Tuft of her chestnut-hued hair spiked up in a ninety degree angle at the back of her head.

"How do I look?" she called out, twisting as she ran.

"I hate you!"

"Have you ever actually worn them?"

He cast her a dirty look that went completely unnoticed.

"No!" he yelled. With each stride, he was slowly catching up to her. "But that's not the point!"

"_Pooooser_!" her voice carried back to him.

_-------------------------------------------_

Asuka turned back, giggling, to see how much ground he had gained. It all happened in a matter of seconds; Hwoarang's arms wrapped around her waist, pinning her, when she slammed straight into a passerby.

"Shiii …"

Mouth agape, Asuka's hands dropped as her brother's cold hazel eyes met hers. She backed away a few paces.

"Jin …"

Jin blinked, confused, until he saw Hwoarang behind her.

His jaw clenched, angrily.

"Get your hands off of her," he said coldly.

Hwoarang pulled a face.

"Hwoarang …" Asuka whispered.

"What?" he frowned, "He's clearly jealous 'coz he's not getting any."

Asuka was pushed to the side, as Jin crash tackled Hwoarang to the ground.

_-------------------------------------------_

_Outside Sushi Train, 7:30pm_

_-------------------------------------------_

"Hey, what's happening over there?" Miharu asked. She pointed to a group of people huddled in a large circle on the sidewalk.

Xiaoyu spared the group one uncaring glance.

"Who cares. It's probably just another silly brawl. Lets go home."

_-------------------------------------------_

Asuka gaped in dismay.

Jin and Hwoarang were on the ground, pummeling each other. And if she hadn't been so intent on getting them to stop, she would have realized that they weren't fighting as they usually did, pulling out their most advanced moves, and planning their attacks; they were beating eachother up like juvenile schoolboys.

"JIN!" Asuka yelled, "STOP IT!"

Jin grabbed the front of Hwoarang shirt and tossed him into the wall. Hwoarang groaned in pain, and ducked as Jin swung his fist at where his face had been only a millisecond ago. Using this opportunity to his advantage, he swung his elbow into his rival's stomach. Jin fell back, wheezing.

"Hwoarang!"

The shock of seeing her brother and boyfriend pummeling eachother to the death had frozen her limbs. But after watching Jin overcome his rival's assault, Asuka leapt forward and grabbed the back of her brother's shirt. She pulled back as hard as she could, but her brother was by far the more determined opponent. He wrenched Asuka's grip from him and threw himself at the red-head.

"JIN!"

Finally losing her temper, Asuka launched forward.

The pair, a second ago, battling until the death, were now reeling over, wincing.

The crowd surrounding them gazed at Asuka as if she were some fighting goddess.

"Whoa…" she heard a crude male voice whisper in awe. "She totally beat the crap out of them both!"

Asuka rubbed her fist, ignoring the guilt that consumed her anger.

"I love you both," she snapped at them, not quite meeting their eyes. "Goodbye."

And she turned on her heel, disappearing behind the traffic of the street.

_-------------------------------------------_

1 – The Simpsons


	16. A Story To Tell

A Story To Tell

Thanks to Thee Slushee, Wait-For-Sleep, x.Babe.x, hibeki, arirang, AngelHands12, Sachi Gosetsuke, mirrors of illusion and Innocent Nightmare for reviewing.

And yes, as ze beta puts it: writer's block has left the building (:

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_7:45pm_

--------------------------------------

"I hate them… Both of them. _Men_… it's like they can never…."

Asuka continued to rant to herself, unaware of the bewildered stares being shot her way. She was completely unaware of where, exactly, she was heading, but she couldn't seem to stand still and grasp what had just happened.

"Idiots!" she yelled, throwing her arms up in aggravation. There was a yelp to her right, suggesting that she had just unintentionally injured someone in her attempt to vent frustration, which she ignored, and continued on.

"Hate them…"

She jumped off the curb, cursing angrily, when a pair of arms pulled her back. Her instinctual reaction was to drive her elbow backwards into her attacker ribs. A groan of pain shortly followed her assault, and she almost grinned victoriously, when a car ploughed to a stop beside her.

"… You know I probably should arrest you for that…"

Asuka gasped, recognizing the voice. The man who had grabbed her, bent over in pain, half-smiled at her.

"… Detective…?" she began, and then faltered, forgetting his name.

_Nice one, Asuka. Just attack the guy who saves you from getting hit by a car._

He straightened up, wincing.

"Well, your memory might have weakened, but your punch certainly hasn't," he kidded, "Detective Wulong. I was in charge of investigating your father's attack. And we competed in the Iron Fist together. Ring any bells?"

"Heheh," she laughed weakly, "Yeah… listen, sorry about that. I was just…"

He raised a hand, indicating that he didn't need to hear an excuse.

"It's fine. The downside to being a martial artist, eh? You can never kill the instinct."

Asuka only nodded, unsure of what to say.

"So what are you still doing in Tokyo? I'd have thought you would have gone straight back to Osaka to check on your father. How is he doing, anyway?"

Asuka felt her cheeks redden. She looked down, appearing to be fascinated by the curse words conveniently carved into the cement at her feet.

"Uh… I don't… I don't know."

She chanced half a look at the Chinese detective. He looked mildly surprised, and pressed on.

"Is something the matter?"

"Well… it's just the thing is…" Asuka began, her head still sore from fighting, screaming and her sidewalk conversation to herself . The entire situation was just clogging up her brain; she need to free some space and before she realized, and against her will, she began regurgitating every single thought and event that had happened to her after the Fifth Iron Fist.

"It's not fair!" she complained.

"What?" Lei was bewildered at her outburst. What's not fai - "

"Those two are such dirt bags! Why can't they ever get along? So _maybe_ Jin hates Hwoarang's guts, and Hwoarang probably hates Jin's more but _still…_can't they act like grown ups instead of pathetic little schoolboys? I used to beat up kids like that back in Osaka! Pathetic idiots who picked on all the weaklings ."

Lei opened his mouth to say something at this point, but Asuka went on, her voice rising in pitch.

"And then there's Miharu and Xiaoyu to add to this! Xiaoyu's totally in love with Jin and Jin keeps pushing Xiaoyu away because he's a total idiot! But I like Xiaoyu; she opened my locker for me on my first day of school and she's always standing up for me when Jin is being an insensitive bastard which is basically what, ninety-five percent of the time? And I have to be nice back to him because he's my brother and - "

"Wait. Stop."

Lei, who had remained silent throughout her rant, stiffened at the word _brother_.

"Your _brother?_" he exclaimed.

Asuka frowned, suddenly remembering that she had stopped walking. She began to pace on the spot, as if doing this actually helped get closer to her unknown destination.

"But… how is that possible?"

"What do you mean 'how is that possible'?" Asuka snapped, irritancy replacing her delirium.

"It can't be…" he muttered to himself. Asuka stared at him, brows knitted in confusion. It seemed that he had forgotten she was there; he had become quite enamoured with the street sign just a few inches to her left. In fact, he stood frozen, staring at that sign for so long, that she considered prodding him to check whether he was still breathing. No sooner did the thought cross her mind, did he snap out of his reverie.

"Asuka…" he began, hesitantly. "I'm not sure how to tell you this but… there is no way that you could be the child of Kazuya Mishima or Jun Kazama. Or even just one."

Asuka felt like he had grabbed ahold of her intestines and twisted them.

"What?" she questioned, "What do you mean?"

"Listen, after the second Iron Fist tournament, Kazuya Mishima died – well, at least he was _presumed _to be dead – no one really checked. Heihachi didn't send anyone down to retrieve his body… I suppose he was just happy to be done with him…" he trailed off sadly. When he did not continue, Asuka allowed him a moment of reminiscing before she cleared her throat noisily.

Lei looked up.

"Sorry. Anyway, no one from the Zaibatsu went to retrieve the body. So G Corporation took it upon themselves to extract the body from the volcano. Kazuya hadn't left their research laboratory since the ordered attack from his father, which was just before the fourth tournament." Lei paused, to take a breath. "And I know for a fact, that Jun Kazama did not have any children after Jin was born. We wrote to eachother regularly… and I visited her. She had a nice house, on the outskirts of a forest at Yakushima…"

There was a hint in his voice, suggesting that there was more to his words, but Asuka did not appear to be listening to him. She stared him, feeling like her insides are frozen.

"Look, what I suggest you do is find - "

Without warning, Asuka turned on her heel and jumped off of the curb. She slid skillfully across the bonnet of a Sedan, landed on her feet, and continued down the street, sprinting as fast as she could.

"Asuka, wait!"

--------------------------------------

_Police Station, 8:15pm_

--------------------------------------

"Can't you loosen these handcuffs?" Hwoarang complained loudly.

The police officer keeping guard, shot him an uncaring glance over his enourmous box of donuts, and went straight back to reading his newspaper. Hwoarang glared at him, shuffled in his chair, and glowered at the Japanese man on his right. Jin shot him a look of contempt underneath his unkempt tresses, and then looked away. The bruise on his left cheek looked more swollen from the side. Amused at his reaction, Hwoarang grinned, his split lip stinging. After checking that the officer was completely absorbed by his newspaper, he began to inconspicuously shuffle his chair to the right.

"What are you doing?" Jin whispered bitterly.

A screeching met their ears, and Hwoarang stopped immediately. The officer keeping guard flung down his newspaper and fixed them with a strict stare.

"What are you two doing over there?"

"Nothing, officer," Jin responded smoothly.

Hwoarang rolled his eyes. Jin might have wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, but he didn't mind a few extra minutes to irritate his rival. And anyway, he couldn't resist the urge to bait an authority figure; it was in his blood.

"Hey, why dontcha throw me a donut?" he called out. Sitting back into his seat, he swung his feet forward to rest onto the desk.

The officer eyed him warily, from over the coffee cup he was sipping from.

"Take your legs off the table," he said coolly.

Hwoarang didn't move a muscle. Jin sighed loudly from his right.

"Take your legs off the table," he repeated, forcefully.

The officer stood up, placing his coffee back onto the table.

"I said, take your legs off the table!"

To his and Jin's surprise, Hwoarang instantly pushed his feet off the table. Grinning at the policeman, he explained:

"You said legs the first two times. That would have been grammatically incorrect."

The officer gaped at him, lost for words.

"Hey," Hwoarang smiled, lifting his handcuffed hands, "I may be a hooligan, a criminal and an outcast to society but I still aced English at school."

Jin snorted.

"What?" Hwoarang said, "Got something to say, Kazama?"

"Yeah, I do - "

The door of the office slammed shut. Detective Lei Wulong entered the room, also holding a cup of coffee and a chocolate-sprinkle covered donut. (1)

"Thanks Hudson," he greeted the officer, "I'll take it from here."

"Good luck…" they heard him scoff as he left the room, donut box in one arm and coffee in the other.

"Can you please leave the box?" ordered the detective. (1)

Grumbling, Hudson placed the box back onto the table. Hwoarang stifled a laugh.

Lei set his coffee onto the table, and settled into his chair.

"I thought this room looked familiar," Hwoarang said brightly.

Lei rearranged a couple of objects on his desk, before he looked up. He was silent for a few moments, taking in Jin's resentful stare and Hwoarang's bemused expression, and then he spoke:

"Brawling again," he sighed. "It's _always_ brawling. I'm going to ask you this, and I don't expect an answer: _what's your excuse?_"

"Helping you bastards pay for donuts," Hwoarang said promptly. (2)

Jin groaned.

"It was a rhetorical question, you _moron_."

"If it was a rhetorical question, than why would he ask it?"

"The _answer_," Lei continued loudly, cutting over their argument. "Is that there is no excuse. And do you know what it's gonna cost you?"

"A fine, community service, possibly a light jail service, depending upon our backgrounds and past records?" Hwoarang replied, all in one breath. He winked at the momentarily taken-back detective.

Jin groaned again.

"Hey, why - " Hwoarang began.

"Stop acting like a - "

"Asuka," Lei said simply.

"What?"

"What you're going to lose is Asuka," he went on. "Your sister." He gestured towards Jin. "And your girlfriend."

"She's not his girlfriend," Jin said quickly.

"Oh eat me, posterboy!" (3)

"Listen you two, why don't you stop and think about - " Lei went on.

"You're a little - " Jin started to curse.

"Eat me. EAAT MEE."

"Act your age!"

Lei jumped up and slammed his desk in anger.

"Shut up, the pair of you!" he bellowed, "You're always bickering, fighting, doing something illegal! I'm sick of chasing you around this city, trying to pick up the pieces! Instead of throwing you into jail like I should have done, I actually gave you the chance to explain your sides of the story! I thought you might have a reasonable excuse for what you have done, although now after hearing you bicker like schoolgirls all evidence seems to point to the contrary!"

"I'm sorry sir," Jin said quickly, "I take full responsibility for my actions these evening, and I assure you that it will never - "

"It's fine, Mr Kazama," Lei said wearily, after a short pause. He rubbed the side of his head and sighed. "I can't hold you here anyway. Not now, not ever."

Hwoarang turned to his right, to find that his rival looked almost shocked.

Lei pulled out a set of keys from a drawer. He left his desk and unlocked the CEO's handcuffs.

"I suggest you leave before the press gets here… The last thing you need right now is another twisted tale on the six o' clock news…"

Jin stood up, rubbed his wrists gladly and crossed the room. He paused at the door, turned back as if he wanted to say something, but then thought better of it. The door slammed shut, and Hwoarang was left with the detective.

"Well?" he prompted. "Can I go?"

"I'm afraid not," Lei said darkly.

"Why not? You let pretty-boy Kazama leave!" he exclaimed, readying himself for a fight.

Lei fixed him with a stern look.

"That was different circumstances."

"Yeah, of course," Hwoarang scoffed, "Have I mentioned to you recently, Mr Wulong, that I, as well, have acquired a large and rather pointless company that thrives on absolute _bullshit? _It's called the Hwoarang Financial Empi - "

"That's enough…" Lei sighed to his desk. When he looked up again, the stern look had been wiped from his face.

"I warned you last time that if you were ever involved in another public fist-fight I wouldn't be able to help you out again," he told the red-head. "I let Mr Kazama because he has a clean record. You, on the other hand…" he trailed off.

Lei crossed to the door, and opened it, indicating that Hwoarang follow.

"Where are we going?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm sorry, Hwoarang," Lei said apologetically. He grabbed ahold of the Korean's handcuffs and forced him through the door. "Hudson will transport you to the nearest penitentiary, where you will stay until you are called to trial."

--------------------------------------

1- Beta's contribution! Because she's cool.

2- I saw it on a sign for speeding. I thought it was funny. Hence, why I added it into this fic.

3- I just watched Annapolis. It had good dialogue (:


	17. Some Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape

Some Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape

Thanks to Wait-For-Sleep, edseds, Thee Slushee, Hibeki, Sachi, arirang, super sweet, doodles123.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters, the lyrics, or the title name.

A/N: Sorry about the wait, guys. I'll try to upload the next chapter sooner.

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I had the whole world in my hands, but I gave it away...

I'm a half-wit boy, crackin' a smile and wearing it all on my sleeve.

She's a maverick, she's so smooth...  
If things go according to plan, I'll have her finished by 5 am.

'Down, Set, Go.' – Underoath.

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_Mishima Mansion, 8:00pm_

------------------------------------------

The door of the Mishima Manor slammed shut, echoing loudly in the empty halls. There was a loud _thump _as a backpack went flying onto the marble floor, shortly followed by it's owner. Asuka slid to a stop next to it, trying as best as she could to quell the tumultuous mass of emotions knotted in her stomach.

"Where is everyone?" she gasped, observing the empty entrance hall.

She slicked back her wet hair, soaked from the rain she had gotten caught in after her encounter with Detective Wulong.

_This day just can't get any worse._

Asuka kicked back her schoolbag, and crossed down the hall into the right wing. Feeling the hairs on her arms tingle, she cursed her uniform for being so skimpy, Jin for being so over-protective, her friends for not being there when she needed them, and Hwoarang for being Hwoarang. Her temper rising, she took a left at the end, and forced open the second door on the left.

She gasped at the sight of the room.

The walls, bathed in the inevitable eerie blue lighting, were completely bare. If it weren't for the swabs of dust etched around evident rectangular shapes, she might have chanced a guess that there had never been any portraits.

"Where did they go…?" she asked the empty room.

------------------------------------------

_8:45pm, Police Station_

------------------------------------------

"This sucks," Hwoarang sighed.

"One more word out of you, Mr - "

"If you even think about repeating my last name, I will - "

"You will _what _exactly?"

The officer stood up, his lips curved in amusement. He toyed with the keys attached to his belt, knowing that the fiery redhead was watching his every move.

Hwoarang mumbled something barely audible.

The middle-aged police smiled, as he heard the words "lucky" and "taekwondo" slip into the young Korean's empty threats. He had dealt with many of his type in his twenty-four years of service, teenage delinquents with half-sleeves of demons and multiple face piercings, accompanied with a sob story of a childhood. But there was something different about his one. Maybe it was the fact that he was only twenty-one and a world-renown martial artist, but there was something different in his eyes; he wasn't just a cold-blooded killer like the others. He was intelligent.

With a sigh, he sat back down, casually thumbing through his newspaper. Intelligence nearly always went to waste these days. (1)

"If I were you, I'd quiet down, Hwoarang," he suggested.

"If I were, I'd fire your HR surgeon," he launched back, without a moment's hesitation. (2)

The officer glanced over his newspaper. He couldn't help but smile at the determined expression fixed upon the delinquent's face.

"You know, you're lucky that Detective Wulong sent me to watch you, instead of Hudson. He must think there's at least one decent bone in your body. He's not one to risk his badge over a lost cause."

"Yeah, whatever," he shrugged in reply. He tossed his hair out of his face, his scarlet streaks catching in the light.

"It must cost you a lot of hair dye a month," he remarked, turning back to his newspaper.

Hwoarang shot him a strange look.

The officer chuckled at his initial reaction.

"I'm just making conversation."

"Good for you."

The officer took a sip of coffee, gagged in repulsion, and set it back down.

"The coffee machine's on the fritz again," he remarked.

"_Mmmh._"

"Can't get a decent flat white these days without paying a fortune."

"That's _fascinating_."

There was silence for a few moments, the officer flicked through his newspaper, and then Hwoarang rudely remarked:

"Why are you even here? Just throw me a pillow and some take-out, I'll be out by eleven. You can go home and, I don't know… what do cops usually when they're not being cops? Eat donuts? Are you married?" The officer opened his mouth to reply, but Hwoarang went on, his anger rising by the second. "Good, well go home to your cheap three-bedroom apartment and talk to your wife. Convince the kids from your first failed marriage that the Japanese legal system isn't a joke and that protecting idiots like Kazama (who we all know is corrupt as _fuck_) is just a regular, law-abiding citizen!"

The officer was observing him curiously throughout his rant. He set his thick-framed glasses onto the sports section of his newspaper.

"You're quite a good judge of character, aren't you?" he questioned.

"Not all the time…" Hwoarang answered, his mind fixed upon one certain occasion where his instincts had let him down. The same occasion embedded within in his mind that began this entire mess, the trip across the globe to prove himself. And for what? To be back where he started? It was sickening, this weakness, and weighing him down with excess emotions.

"So, you'd like me to leave you here all by yourself? For me to come back in the morning to find you've chop suey'd the bars down and made a run for it?" he smiled at his own joke, but the Korean didn't find it amusing.

"That's Chinese. And it's not even a martial arts technique. It's a mixed dish," he responded flatly.

"Oh," the officer blinked. The young delinquent seemed immune to all signs of normalcy. "Well, sorry to disappoint you Hwoarang but I can't just leave. I gave Detective Wulong my word that I'd watch you."

Hwoarang grunted incoherently.

Closing the newspaper, the Officer questioned curiously:

"Isn't there anyone to bail you out? Parents? Friends?"

"Dad's MIA, mom's probably in AA right now, don't have any friends," the red-head muttered in one breath.

"No girlfriend?"

"No, I mean… yeah," he mumbled, staring at the bars.

"Well, why don't you call her and she can bail you out? "

"I doubt she will."

"Why do you think that?"

"We had a slight misunderstanding."

"And…?"

"It ended in me attacking her brother. And vice versa."

"Oh?" he quipped, "So it was Mr Kazama's younger sister you were fighting for? You've found yourself in quite a pickle then, eh?"

"Brilliant observation," Hwoarang cracked, humourlessly. "It really makes me wonder why they haven't transferred you over to homicide yet, officer? How many years have you been in general law enforcement, then? Twenty years? Twenty two?"

After an interval of stunned silence, the officer replied: "You really are something, Hwoarang. You shouldn't let what you have go to waste."

The red-head opened his mouth to reply, but it seemed words had failed him. Luckily, there was a rustling coming from the next room. The officer straightened his newspaper up, placed it onto the chair, and stood up.

"I'll be back in a second."

"Yeah… great…" Hwoarang intoned sarcastically.

He concentrated on the steel bars, hoping that if he stared hard enough they would melt. Silence reigned for around a minute, save for the hushed voices in the next room. Then he heard footsteps, and the officer reappeared, keys in his hand, followed by a Japanese girl, her timid face framed by short, brown hair.

Hwoarang stared at the pair in confusion, while the officer unlocked the door and swung it open.

"You're free to go," he explained, "This young lady bailed you out. You're a lucky guy to have such a caring girlfriend. Don't screw it up, Hwoarang." (3)

With a wink, the officer gestured towards the exit. Hwoarang who had stepped out of the cell, still bewildered, remarked:

"She's not my girlfr - "

"Come on, Hwoarang!" the girl chirped cheerily, linking his arm with his and dragging him out the door. "Thankyou Mr. Policeman! I'm Miharu, by the way!"

------------------------------------------

_10:30pm, Mishima Mansion_

_------------------------------------------_

Jin's footsteps echoed incessantly in the mansion's hallways.

Something wasn't right.

The lights had been turned off, the doors were all closed. The mansion was completely deserted. Where were all of the maids? There were usually a few bustling around the hallways, dusting things and pretending to do work. They shouldn't have been dismissed until midnight.

He changed into his Karate gi, his mind clouded with incoherent thoughts and feelings. Still baffled by the emptiness of the manor, he made his way to the training room and flicked the light switch on. The dark room showered in dimmed lights.

And smack in the middle of his crimson-hued punching bag, confirming his intuition, was a note attached by a wad of gum.

He took it, wiped away the sickly-pink goo, and flipped it open.

_Jin,_

_By the time you get this I will be on my back home. Osaka, that is. I need answers and I'm not going to find them here in Tokyo._

Jin paused, aghast, and then read on.

_If my suspicions are correct, I may not come back._

_Love, your sister,  
Asuka_

_Ps. I'm sorry about hitting you, but you sort of deserved it…_

Jin crumpled the piece of paper in his hand. His fists clenched, he summoned all of his strength and with a mighty glow, directed it at the bag. All sense of sagacity evaporating, his potent fist pierced the leather case. The grains of sand spilled onto the floor, building a mound before him. His knees gave way, and as he knelt, he felt his knuckles burn from beneath his gloves. Shock replacing his fury, he yanked the training gloves off to find that his bare skin was emitting smoke and sparking like lightning.

_No, not again…_

------------------------------------------

1 – Yes, I am very much aware that cops don't usually sit outside cells & annoy the occupants.  
2 – That's hair restoration for you half-wits. :)  
3 – Also aware that you can't actually bail someone until after they've been trialed, but im being lazy okaay?


	18. Identities and Non Entities: Part One

Identities and Non-Entities (Part One)

A/N: Sorry about the wait, I know I promised I would update sooner but… i'm lazy haha. Anyway, I have like a month left of school until I graduate, so I should make some time to write more, and then hopefully, I'll be off to university  If not… well, I hear hobos make a pretty good living.

Thanks to the usual (and not-so-usual) reviewers: Wait-For-Sleep, Thee Slushee, arirang, Sachi, jaremy, x.Babe.x and Dragon Of The Wind RaiXKim.

Thanks to Jaremy for helping me make this fic as clichéd as it could possibly ever be. Don't know what I'd do without ya, buddy.

The lyrics are in reference to Jin's sad little existence. You'll see why, later in the chapter.

Jaremy: Sorry, I forgot.

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"_Do I divide and pull apart  
Cause my bright is too slight to hold back all my dark?  
I know you're coming for the people like me –  
We all got wood and nails,  
Tongue tied in hate factories."_

- Brand New

------------------------------------------

_9:00pm, Downtown Tokyo_

------------------------------------------

"She told you _what?"_

The girl known as Miharu grinned like a kid in a candy store.

"Everything."

Hwoarang scowled at her. He cast his head towards the pavement, slick with water. The rain had stopped awhile ago and the streets, though not quite empty, were less lively than usual. Those still scattered in the lane stood idly, concealed beneath their monotonous black umbrellas.

The pair followed the long stretch of road, struggling to make polite conversation.

"So tiger, what's your plan of attack?" Miharu quipped.

Hwoarang frown deepened and did not reply.

Interrupting what she assumed to be a dignified silence, Miharu plunged on: "You should probably go after her."

Hwoarang shot her a look of incredulity. He had only met her fifteen minutes ago, but already he felt like he wanted to strangle her.

"Hmm?" she prompted, stopping in her tracks.

"I don't know," he finally shrugged.

His face resumed its usual scowl.

Miharu pressed her back against the streetlight.

"So, do you even like Asuka?"

Hwoarang's brooding gaze bore holes into the Japanese girl's face.

"Of course I do," he snapped, then paused. "I took her to a fucking amusement park."

"I know, that - " Miharu commented, but Hwoarang went on, fists curled in anger.

"The only time I've taken a girl on a date anywhere half-decent was a McDonald's car park and we spent most of the time making out anyway. So _there_. That's gallantry for you. I like her. I don't like her jack-ass brother, but I think I've been pretty damn tolerant enough not to have broken him in a new face before today."

"Well - "

"And you know what," Hwoarang continued, temper rising by the minute. He loathed being in this situation, loathed being in debt to this girl he didn't even know, loathed confiding in her every single troubling detail of his life. "Screw you! I don't even like you, I don't even know you and you're trying to twist my words!"

Miharu's face stiffened as if she had just been slapped.

"Excuse me?," she retorted, frostily. She stepped away from the pole, towards the Korean, who instantly backed away as if she was a leper, "If you don't want my help just say so, I'll just walk you back to the jail, cash you in and go by that lovely cashmere sweater I saw the other day - "

"Okay!" he snapped back, his cheeks burning.

"Do you want my help or not?" Miharu said, coolly after a period of sustained silence. "'Cause If you do, you better keep that testosterone buckled in, buddy."

Hwoarang inhaled, letting his fists uncurl.

"So what's your plan, pixie?"

------------------------------------------

_12:30am_

------------------------------------------

Asuka thumbed through the newspaper casually. A few seats behind her, she could distinctly hear a man snoring. A tall flight attendant bent down besides her seat and smiled vibrantly. Asuka instinctively leant back, a feeling close to fear gurgling in her stomach. She wasn't entirely sure whether it was brought on by the fact that she had just 'borrowed' her brother's credit card, packed her bags and finally did what she had planned to do since her tumble from the roof, or by the sight of the flight attendant. After catching sight of her makeup, Asuka settled on the latter.

"Would you like another newspaper?" she chirped.

"No thank you," Asuka replied, politely.

"Are you sure?" she asked, "We have newer editions in - "

"I'm fine, thank you," Asuka cut her off. She had just caught sight of the mascara clinging to her lashes in little globules. Asuka edged slightly to the right.

"Well, if you want anything, just give me a buzz."

The flight attendant departed, and Asuka turned back to her newspaper. She flicked back to the cover where the date read: 22 January, 2006.

"Hmm…" Asuka frowned slightly.

She pounded her pillow flat with her fist and leant back slightly, perusing the news. In a bid to stay away, she began to read the article title's quietly.

"_King of Iron Fist Tournament Arrangements To A Rocky Start_… _Celebrity Scandal…Earthquake In… Stock Market Crash For…"_

It was only when her eyes had began to water from her lethargy and she felt her mind drift into a calm state, did she recognize a blurred name on the page.

"_Mishima Heir Embarrassment To MFE…" _ she read softly. And in realization, she murmured: "Jin…"

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and leant forward slightly, in search of better light to read the article.

The article's picture was of a sports car almost wrapped around a pole, and the back of a familiar-looking spiky-haired head being surrounded by what looked like a group of black-suited bodyguards being harassed by paparazzi. The caption read: _"Remains of Mishima Heir, Jin Kazama's Porsche GT1 after a rendezvous with a telegraph pole on return from a drunken high school party."_

Asuka fumbled with the page, lost in thought. In the back of her mind, she recalled a conversation…

"_You should have seen what happened to his first car_…_This when a few years ago, when he was still in high school. He was coming back from a party where he'd been drinking, and he drove the car into a pole…"_

"Mr Tanaka…" Asuka suddenly remembered.

She absentmindedly flipped through the newspaper. Her eyes stopped on another article, entitled: "_Mishima Heir Farce"_

"_Is Jin Kazama really the grandson of Mishima Financial Empire's CEO, Heihachi Mishima?" _she read.

Asuka scanned the article, shocked at the brutality of the report. She continued to scan the newspaper, stopping abruptly at every few pages. It seemed that the purpose of the newspaper was to attack every aspect of Jin's, as well as the MFE's, existence.

"_In the hands of Jin Kazama, will the MFE crumble?_" Asuka read from the byline of yet another article.

Asuka felt a wave of disgust mixed with pity.

She had not once considered that Jin was once just the lowly heir of the MFE. She had always pictured him stepping smoothly into the CEO's shoes after Heihachi's depature. She had never imagined him having any kind of trouble staying in control of the company… She had never even considered him capable of human emotion. She imagined how he would have felt reading these articles every day, constantly defamed, being in the limelight, losing his family...

A sudden tremor of sadness danced in Asuka, as she brushed away a lone tear.

------------------------------------------

Next Chapter: Identities And Non-Entities Part Two.


	19. Identities and Non Entities: Part Two

Identities and Non-Entities (Part Two)

A/N: I was reading through my old reviews, and I felt bad that I haven't updated in so long! …Did anyone get the reference to Chapter Seven?? No?? I'm disappointed 

Thanks to Umi Kanshisha, Sachi Gosetsuke, arirang, Thee Slushee, Dynasty021, Xximxnottheone and Dil for reviewing. Thanks also to Jaremy for betaing..

Arirang: Lol, I'm lazyyy, okay:P

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"Oh harro!"

Silence.

Xiaoyu had just swung her door open, cucumber slices applied to her eyes. Her face was covered with what looked like spread bubblegum, only the shade of green. She was dressed in a bathrobe and pajama bottoms. Despite her disheveled appearance, her face betrayed no trace of embarrassment; on the contrary, she seemed overly excited to have visitors.

Hwoarang stared at the Chinese girl, one eyebrow cocked.

"Xiao," Miharu scolded, tearing one of the cucumber pieces from her eyes ("Aiii!"), "Is that cucumber? What the hell are you doing_? And why didn't you invite me?!"_

Xiaoyu giggled, and pulled the other vegetable circle from her right eye.

"I was going to call you later, after I tested some of this stuff out," she chirped excitedly, "I went out and bought some cosmetics, nail polish, a buffer- oh! And you wouldn't believe the stuff they had on sale!… I thought I'd buy some for you as well and you could just pay me ba…" her smile froze as she caught sight of the red-head, still looking as if he had just come face to face with a Martian.

"Oh, haiiii…" Xiaoyu looked down.

Miharu knew that beneath the mask her cheeks were bright red.

"Pixie here didn't tell me you had just come down with leprosy," Hwoarang commented, scratching the back of his head. "That's too bad… Guess I'll just be going then..."

Miharu threw out an arm and hooked him inside the house like a fish on a line. With the other hand, she shoved Xiaoyu into the hallway.

"Anyone else home?"

"No."

"Good. We need your room. Bring me your laptop, cell phone, the number of the nearest airport - "

"And anything that contains caffeine…" Hwoarang chipped in, stifling a yawn. "This has been a _long_ day…"

------------------------------------------

Asuka blinked.

Just ahead, she could see the outlines of figures practicing her family's art, Kazama-Ryuu Kobujutsu, in her father's dojo. She had spotted it at the bridge, but she dismissed the thought immediately; no one trained at the dojo without permission, and her father was extremely precise when it came to training.

But now as she neared the dojo, there was no mistaking the war cries of the fighters. A sense of curiosity pitted in her stomach, rather than fear. All the events of the past day had increased her rashness, and if it were any moment for confrontation it were now.

There was only one way to find out who had re-opened the dojo, whether with her father's orders or without it.

Asuka pitched her umbrella onto the soil and bounded up the steps of the dojo. Kicking her shoes out from under her, she pushed open the sliding door of the dojo, preparing herself for confrontation.

The fighters stopped almost instantly at the interruption. They stared at Asuka, some faces familiar, and others not.

"What is going on here?" a voice demanded, "Why have you stopped?"

The old man ordering the class turned to find the cause of disruption.

"Asuka," he said, voice devoid of emotion, "Wait outside the dojo."

Asuka met her father's gaze brashly.

"Why?" she rebutted instantly. The senior members of the class tittered at her disrespect. She caught them exchanging incredulous looks, to which she responded with a venomous stare. She would have liked nothing better than to beat them in line, but something told her that now was not the best time.

"Asuka please," he said. It was not an order, but there was a touch of gruffness in his tone, the same he used when speaking to the junior members.

Asuka had no choice but to comply to his request. In silence, she turned on her heel and waited outside on the dojo's steps.

------------------------------------------

Does anyone remember an old story I posted about Xiaoyu and Jin? It was set in high school and it was quite corny but I'm considering reposting it because I did like it a lot.


	20. Honesty and Cowardice

Honesty and Cowardice

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I will have this finished soon, I promise. I'm estimating about three more chapters to go.

Thanks to the reviewers and to Jaremy for betaing. You have my eternal gratitude.

-----------------------------------------------------------

_7:00am, Osaka, Outside Asuka's Father's dojo_

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Explain. _Now,"_ Asuka demanded, an air of authority in her tone.

Her father leant onto his walking cane, and shook his head.

"Asuka, I understand you're - "

"No, you don't!" she interjected, balling her fists. Every single bitter thought she had been feeling for the last month seemed to up and out of her lips at that moment. So _this_ is what she went to Tokyo for? Was she that much of a nuisance to be kept in the dark?

"Calm down," he said, and he too, spoke with the air of authority so similar to Asuka's that she couldn't help but obey his instruction. Immediately, she felt uncomfortable at her actions. She had waited two months for a trace of news about her father's disappearance and now, there he was. He was standing before her, unharmed, unaffected.

"Otousan…" Asuka whispered, and rushed forward into his arms.

"Asuka!" her father hollered in surprise, as she clumsily knocked his walking cane to the ground.

"Oh… sorry," she grimaced inwardly. She retrieved the cane and handed it back to her father, who still appeared surprised at her sudden gesture.

"Same Asuka… rash…always spontaneous…" he muttered, shaking his head.

Asuka took a step back and tried to clear her head, something she was nearly always incapable of doing.

"So… where did you go, Otousan?? Why did you leave so suddenly? You weren't in the hospital, you didn't leave a note! I thought you had been kidnapped. That detective," Asuka paused, taking breath, trying to grasp at the name, "Lee – Lei? Detective Wulong said he took a personal interest in this case, and he told me to go to… where did you go?"

"I could have asked you the same question," her father replied.

"What?" Asuka, who was pacing around the yard, suddenly halted. "I went to Tokyo, to stay with Jin. That's what Detective Wulong - "

"Jin?" he interrupted bluntly.

"Yes," Asuka said, impatiently.

"Not… Kazama?"

"Of course… I was told… well, actually, I kind of figured it out," Asuka immediately felt sheepish, unsure that she should impart her calculating scheme. After all, she had done many rash things in the past, but abandoning her father's dojo and flying to Tokyo to uncover the truth about her family's secrets was definitely not something she felt would go without punishment.

"Figured what out?"

"Well…" she resumed her persistent pacing, "Why I don't look like any of you! Why I'm like you said- spontaneous and always finding trouble. It's because… I'm adopted, aren't I?" She talked quickly, as if speaking incoherently would somehow make it easier to hear.

"I beg your pardon?" Her father re-gripped his walking cane, appearing highly affronted.

Asuka barged on, feeling as though there was nothing to lose now.

"Lei – Detective Wulong – he said there was a special bond between Jun Kazama and I – Jin and I, as well – and I figured it out. I'm her daughter aren't I? And Jin is my brother."

There was a moment of stiff silence – or perhaps several minutes- as Asuka waited with bated breath for her father's response. He continued to look affronted at her sudden address, and she, for some reason, felt encouraged by it.

"Asuka…" he spoke slowly, "I don't know what special bond this detective was talking about – and in any case, I wouldn't trust his opinion, especially given how he felt about my sister, Jun – but he is clearly mistaken, because - "

"How he felt? But - "

"Jin Kazama is not your brother."

------------------------------------------

_8:00am, Xiaoyu's house_

------------------------------------------

Hwoarang's eyes snapped open suddenly as if he had been hit by a bucket of cold water. He had fallen asleep in the most uncomfortable position: in a swivel chair; his head against the desk and a gigantic book ajar on his knees.

He looked round to see how the other two had fared through the night. Xiaoyu had collapsed on her bed and was now entwined with the biggest and most ragged looking creature he had ever seen. He wondered why anyone would ever make something so ugly into a toy. With a somber sigh, he thought of the plushie he had won Asuka and wondered what had become of it. She had probably tossed it into the back of the cupboard. Or used it for a punching bag and ripped the stuffing out of it. The latter thought amused him.

Miharu had fallen asleep sitting upright, her head against Xiaoyu's bed and a laptop in her arms, cradled like a baby. They had spent the night trying to find a means of getting to Osaka, the most inexpensive way possible. It had taken an hour to even go through with this plan, in which Hwoarang had not participated but instead, thought of how incredibly ridiculous this situation was and that he shouldn't be here anyway. Then Miharu pointed out that only one of them needed to go to Osaka to find Asuka; she suggested Hwoarang go, and Hwoarang suggested he go home.

The next three hours were spent finding an airline to Osaka; but unfortunately, a storm had swept over the city (which they could have eluded, Hwoarang observed in irritation, if they hadn't spent so much time bickering) and all flights were delayed well into the morning.

Hwoarang had decided hours ago, he would simply feign sleep until he was sure Xiaoyu and Miharu had fallen asleep themselves, and then take off before they noticed. He could not bear to simply walk out and have Miharu reap more evidence that he was an "uncaring, dropkick" (her words) who didn't care about Asuka, at all, because, on the contraire, not only was that not true, but it caused him to picture Asuka kicking his ass for giving up on her. At first, he had pictured her cute, sad face crying at his hopelessness, but he knew very well that was an entirely uncharacteristic reaction, so he settled for the latter.

Unfortunately, his plan failed when he realized that the pair of teenage girls were resistant to, not only adamant airport service assistants, the weather, the impossible, but also exhaustion.

So there he was, eight o'clock in the morning in a pink-wallpapered room containing two mad Japanese schoolgirls (whom he detested more than any other kind, in the world), annoyed that he had let himself fall into this mess.

He picked himself up, comforted by the thought that at least now he could leave and not feel like (more of) a coward.

He had just removed the thick book from his numb knees when he heard the telephone on Xiaoyu's bedside table cry.

He froze, thinking that surely this would startle the girls into awakening. When they did not stir, however, he felt sure it would be safe to leave. He had just crossed to the door, when he felt a pang of guilt. Maybe he should answer it? What were the chances of it being Asuka on the phone, in trouble?

_Though the chances of Asuka being in trouble are slim… _he thought, rationally. A kind of tug-of-war against reason battled inside, and finally, he decided it was best to wake Xiaoyu up. The question was, how to do it.

Finally, he resolved to prod her on the shoulder gingerly. When she did not respond, he prodded her a little harder.

_Thump! _His response was a backhand to the eye.

"Ouch, _what_ is your problem!" he retorted. "And _what _is it with girl's hitting people in the eye…" he added, though in an undertone.

Hwoarang backed away, feeling very unrewarded for his good deed. He could have left without telling her, but _noo… you had to be the nice guy and wake her up_, he thought with a bitter scowl.

"Whaatzhappened?" Xiaoyu yelled unintelligibly, bolting upright. Her cell phone slid out of her front pocket, where it flashed an epiphany before Hwoarang's eyes. Or at least, an opportunity of ensuring he did not appear to be a total coward in this situation.

"Your phone's ringing," he said bluntly, massaging his eyeball.

"Huh?" Xiaoyu muttered, rubbing her eyes. She appeared very close to falling back asleep. Below them, Miharu had, thankfully, not awakened.

"Your telephone's ringing," he repeated, gesturing towards her bedside table, "Can I borrow your cell phone?"

"Aii… yes… sure…"

As Xiaoyu pulled the phone for the handset, Hwoarang, quick as a flash, snaked the pink cell phone and headed for the doorway.

Xiaoyu had contracted into a ball on her bed, as she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello…"

Below her, Miharu finally awoke.

"What? Okay. Okay… I understand. Is everything…? Okay. I will. Be safe. Bye."

Miharu looked up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Who was that?" she croaked, looking around the room.

Xiaoyu bolted upright and babbled excitedly:

"Asuka! She's okay! She wants me to get - "

But her excited demeanor quickly shifted to a look of disappointment.

"…Where's Hwoarang?"

The pair glanced at the empty doorway, through which they knew Hwoarang had passed, out of this mess, and out of their lives.

"I swear to God, if he hasn't just gone for a whiz, I'm going to kick his ass."

------------------------------------------

The timelines in these scenes are a little mixed up, but you'll understand later.


End file.
